Blogs from Butha Buthe, Lesotho, Africa

We are the only car passing through the border. It's ten-thirty and the log says we're the third vehicle through since they opened at eight. The Caledonspoort border crossing into Lesotho is very quiet and very laid back. For about an hour we'd been approaching Lesotho's mountains along a potholed South African road. Once across the border, the road quality doesn't really change but the scenery does. Gone are the endless vista of the African velt; we're into misty mountains, lush green valleys and roaring mountain rivers. There are small farms everywhere; a few huts, a few animals and some maize. We are staying at Maliba Lodge, deep in the Ts'ehlanyane National Park. The road to the lodge climbs and climbs, eventually turning to gravel and getting us to over 2000 metres high. At the lodge ... read more

In the centre of South Africa, is the world’s third-smallest but highest country - Lesotho. Lesotho has 2.1 million people living in it. The population is largely farmers, living in small rural communities, their main crop maize. The Northern Drakensberg, where I am staying, is nearby the Lesotho border and my backpackers runs day trips across the border. So that was my adventure today. Two mini buses of us packed in and headed off. The drive was almost 2 hours to the border. We all lined up with the locals at the immigration booth to have our passports scanned and stamped. Then we entered Lesotho. Right away, it was different. Lesotho is quite a poor country. South Africa, while it has it’s challenges has it’s share of people who are poor, has great financial infrastructure, especially ... read more

Once again at the crack of dawn, and with Morgan in tow, we watched an amazing sunrise then set out with the intention of hiking and hitching to the town of Mokhotlong, which at 57km away was the closest town and best chance of getting any transport towards anywhere that we might decide to go. The five hours that passed before the first car came along and gave all three of us a lift to Mok. passed in a flash. Full of energy after the previous nights big dinner and sleep in front of the fire we effortlessly hiked through the snow and over the Black Mountain range, unknowingly summitting the highest point in Southern Africa at over 3300m. The sense of adventure was unbelievable, as was the scenery. Nothing grows above about 2000m here and ... read more