TOP
Exploring Tourism in Swaziland
Swaziland
icon Worldwideicon
Places to Visit Details

Lobamba

Manzini, Swaziland

In the beautiful Ezulwini valley (the Valley of Heaven), Lobamba is Swaziland's spiritual and cultural heart. This laid-back town is home to Swaziland's monarchy as well as its most important buildings. Here, visitors will find the Lobamba Royal Village with the Royal Kraal, the Parliament Building, the National Museum, and other government buildings. In the large Embo State Palace, the king holds audiences and the magnificent State House, built in 1978, is used mainly for ceremonial and other state occasions, though neither of these buildings is open to the public. However, visitors can tour the Parliament Building. Also in Lobamba, the Somhlolo Stadium is the venue of major cultural and sporting events, state celebrations, concerts, dance performances, and speeches by the king.

Lobamba is a city in Eswatini, and is one of the two capitals (along with Mbabane), serving as the legislative, traditional, spiritual, seat of government of the Parliament of Eswatini, and Ludzidzini Royal Village, the residence of Queen Ntfombi, the Queen Mother.

Mswati III lives about ten kilometres (6 mi) away at the Lozitha Palace. The King and Queen Mother participate in annual December and January Incwala ceremonies and August and September Reed Dances at Ludzidzini Royal Village, also known as the Royal Kraal.

Key attractions are the Parliament, National Museum of Eswatini, Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, and the King Sobhuza II Memorial Park. The Embo State Palace, not open to visitors, was built by the British government for the polygamous King Sobhuza II, whose family included 600 children. He led the movement for Eswatini's independence from the United Kingdom and was its first prime minister.

Overview

It is located in the western part of the country in the woodland "Valley of Heaven", or Ezulwini Valley. It is 16 kilometres (10 mi) from Mbabane, in the district of Hhohho and has a subtropical climate with wet summers and dry winters.

Sobhuza II

In 1997 its population was 3,625. Its population in 2006 was 11,000.[11] Across the country, 84.3% of its people are Swazi and 9.9% are Zulu. The remainder are Tsonga (2.5%), Indian (1.6%) and others (1.7%). Its official languages are Swazi and English.]

History

Two areas have been called Lobamba, the first now called "Old Lobamba" was established in 1750 in southern Eswatini. The subject of this article is a settlement that was created by Sobhuza II in the northwest section of the country.

In 1903, following the Boer Wars, the British government took control of Eswatini and it was then ruled by a regent. In 1921 King Sobhuza II became leader of Eswatini, which was still under the British government's control Eswatini became independent of the British government on September 6, 1968, which was announced at a cattle byre in Lobamba by Prince Makhosini. He was the country's first prime minister and the great-grandson of Sobhuza I. With its independence, Eswatini was a member in its own right of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), British Commonwealth, and the United Nations. It was made a constitutional monarchy under Sobhuza II, who lived in the royal residence, or kraal, in Lobamba

Check out more Places to Visit