Lesotho

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Day 85 Aliwal North - Lesotho 31.8.09
We left the death camp at around 7am and stopped in town for a few supplies before heading towards Lesotho. Across the border it was like a different world again, reminiscent of east africa, in as much as there were lots of huts and very basic buildings not to mention run down shacks that would still be housing people. We climbed higher and higher in our truck until we reached our camp, Malealea Lodge, apparently "Lesotho in a nutshell" which is good considering we only had a nutshell's time to take it all in! In the evening me and Chelle cooked for the group (stuffed butternut squash with Apple Pie and custard for dessert).

Day 86 Lesotho 1.9.09
As we camped on uneven ground last night we were both rolling around and I was basically using michelle as a ground sheet and woke up several time with her under me! Today we were going pony treking to a waterfall, we got our ponies, mine was called Poonani and Michelles was unpronounceable so for the benefit of the blog we'll call it Jeff. We mounted our steeds and headed into the village passed the local school and waving kids and up the mountain. This was scary, every so often the ponies would slip and make us think we were about to fall off the edge of the mountain and Michelle eventually got off her pony and decided to walk it (whether it was out of fear or arse pain is not clear)! After about an hour or so riding we were making progress and the views were as stunning as those initial sights we gawped at in Rwanda and Uganda all those months back. Lesotho has the highest low point of any country in the world and where we were right now was probably nowhere near it highest point, this place was immense! After a bit more riding we got off the ponies and walk down a gravel slope to the waterfall, it wasn't that impressive but the ride there was great. On the way back the horses decided to canter back to the stables and ignore any tug or shouts of "wooooah!".
Later in the day Michelle visited a 'Witchdoctor' who threw some bones on the floor and reassured her that she would marry and to take medicine for the stomach to cure her bad joints, then charged her 25 rand, unfortunately Lesotho lacks a public health care system.

Day 87 Lesotho - Royal Natal Park 2.9.09
Today we left Lesotho and headed to the Royal Natal Park in the Drakenburg mountains, i'm sad that we haven't been able to spend more time here.

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