Simunye

Simunye is a sugar-mill town on the Lowveld of eastern Eswatini, built and effectively run by the Royal Eswatini Sugar Corporation (RES, formerly the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation). The surrounding Simunye estate was developed in the late 1970s, clearing bush to establish over 9,000 hectares of irrigated cane along with the roads, canals and workshops that support it; the mill itself was commissioned in 1980 and has been expanded several times since, and a distillery producing ethanol and spirits from molasses was added in 1995. Almost the entire town's population works for the corporation. Simunye sits close to Hlane Royal National Park, Mlawula Nature Reserve and Mbuluzi Game Reserve, making it a practical staging point for travellers heading into those reserves.

By road, roughly east of Manzini on the Lowveld; the town exists as an appendage of the sugar estate rather than a transport hub in its own right.

Walkable. Car needed for reserves.

Sugar plantations.

Access Hlane and Mlawula reserves. Tour the sugar mill.

A few simple eateries serve local dishes.

Informal local bars.

Self-catering at Mbuluzi Game Reserve.

Small shops in the estate town centre stock everyday provisions.

• Hlane Royal National Park — 15 km north
• Mlawula Nature Reserve — 10 km north
• Mbuluzi Game Reserve — 10 km north