Blogs from Lesotho, Africa - page 6

Monday (15th) we ascended into Lesotho: the mountain kingdom. Another day another country! The driving was great because the scenery was amazing! We took a shortcut on tiny dirt roads that didn't look like they could hold our truck that took us right up through the mountains. They are the same kinds of mountains as the rest of South Africa (rocky, interesting shapes, Table Mountain style), just bigger. Almost like Archangel Valley, but not even quite like that. It was like driving through a postcard! Gorgeous! It was like being back in more northern Africa again. Back to real Africa... More rustic, simple, houses spread out amongst farmlands, cows, sheep, dirt roads, bathroom = behind bushes. We didn't see any cars, just horses for transport. The houses...some of the traditional round huts and then some houses ... read more

Our journey started September 21 and ended October 2. The Global Neighbor Project Team of Tacoma, WA -- Kathleen and Rick Olson, Michelle Cox and Julie Nordlund, led by Bob Bowen of World Vision, left SEA-TAC on a Sunday afternoon and arrived in Lesotho on Monday morning. We flew Northwest Airlines Airbus, KLM 747 and South African Airways turbo prop to reach our destination. We laid over in Amsterdam a couple of hours and hit Johannesburg late evening. We missed the shuttle to our hotel and had to wait for the next one, so by the time we got to our rooms, we had time to shower and take a nap before catching the shuttle back to the airport for an early departure. We do NOT recommend this schedule, as it was too long of a ... read more

Why am I traveling to a tiny country surrounded by South Africa? Why now? Here's the deal: It started when I was President of Tacoma 8 Rotary in 2005. Our club hosted a team of business persons on a study exchange from South Africa. They stayed in Tacoma for a week and my husband Rick and I hosted a team member. I worked at Point Defiance Zoological Society at the time, and provided a behind the scenes tour so the five of them could see polar bears and beluga whales up close. The leader of the group, Frances, was from White River, a community near the southern part of Kruger National Park. She extended an invitation for us to visit if we could. I figured perhaps one day I would accompany a Zoo staff and donor ... read more

I've been back at school for a little over a week now, but I haven't had time to update from my trip to Lesotho, because this is cram time on campus- papers and exams flying right and left, computer lab full at all times of the day and night, and everyone (including me) is busy all the time. Luckily, before this madness started, I got to spend a week in lovely Lesotho, here is some background on the country: Lesotho (Le-SOO-too) is a small independent kingdom, geographically located in the mountains inside of South Africa. It is the highest country in the world and the only country that is entirely above 1000 meters above sea level. More than 70% of the population of Lesotho lives in Rural areas, and rural here means rural. There is one ... read more

The snow Blizzard started as soon as we left the Sani pass Police post in South Africa. It was chaos, 7 4X4 vehicles in front of us had got stuck in the thick snow. There were vehicles behind us but we persevered after an exciting 3 hrs burning the clutch, screeching tyres eventually we got to the top but ahead the gates were locked and there was no one to be seen. The blizzard grew worse and there were 9 people outside the gate in 0 degrees celcius, half a of meter snow, blistering winds not sure what the next step would be. I decided to kick the gate to kingdom come and to my surprise the lock cracked open, this is in fact a trick I learnt at boarding school! The next morning was the ... read more