Sani Pass and Lesotho

Friday 9th April 2010

Q. Which side of the road do you drive on in Lesotho?
A. The smoothest.

After breakfast we were taken in two groups of six along a rugged road in an old Land Rover towards Sani Pass and the border of Lesotho. It was a lovely sunny day and turned out to be a cultural and scenic feast! The mountains were beautiful and the ascent afforded for many opportunities to take pictures of our surrounding landscape:













Here is the view looking back down from near the top:



After a slow and steady climb up some frighteningly precipitous roads, we came to S.A immigration again, 8km of road and then the Lesotho customs check. I was told not to take photos, but I did anyway:



We lunched on a peak on the plateau that is the eastern side of Lesotho, some 3240m above sea level, and chatted to some farmers:





Following this we were taken to a typical Lesotho shepherds' settlement within these highlands where we were invited into a mud hut to meet a Sesotho-speaking lady and her young child:





The locals stay here to farm during the summer, before returning to their warmer homes when the winter hits. They will be moving within the next month. The hut smelled of smoke as the fires used for cooking are started inside the hut. The smoke seeps through the thatched roof but the smoky smell began to affect me.

After sampling the home-made beer and bread I got outside to notice that I was having trouble breathing at this altitude! Outside we met three musical gentlemen who began to dance in order to be paid:



Our next stop was the Sani Top, Africa's highest pub:



After a couple of local beers (which are rubbish by the way) I felt much better, although it was freezing up there:



We made our descent down the rocky roads and I was able to capture the treachery of the route with these pictures:





Here is another beautiful view on the way home:



We got back to the lodge for dinner and a lovely sunset:





I have discovered that sometimes travelling requires a long, boring day like yesterday in order to set up a day like this. Seeing both Swaziland and Lesotho in the space of a few days has been great, and the opportunity to meet and learn about another indigenous group has been a wonderful experience.