Blogs from Lesotho, Africa - page 7

It had been a cold night with little sleep. I looked out of the tent and found Mr Seja scraping off frost from his tent and efficiently packing his belongings into his red German rental car. We'd met him one day earlier as we - resembling two bagladies - had dragged our plastic-bagged belongings across the border at Maseru bridge. He was efficiency personified. Punctuality, rationality, German humour and break-neck driving skills all in one. With him behind the wheel we managed to see half the country in less than a week. - "Bloody cold wasn't it?" I called out, looking early morning grumpy. - “Not too bad, it was only minus three,” was his calm response before he smiled back at me. He was always optimistic and didn't fall for the disillusioned Swedes wining or ... read more

Walking out of the Quach's Nek border-post I tilted my head against the gale-force winds, to see orange pieces of plastic on the ground...strikingly similar in colour to the bikes indicators. Yep, the wind was strong alright, and had blown the bike over, much to the bemusement of onlookers. Battling against the wind, we rode through the beautiful landscape Lesotho provides to Sehlabatebe National Park. It was a long ride, and tiredness prevailed. After looking up the loose-bouldery track, and ranting that I wasn't Alfie Cox (three times Paris-Dakar motorbike champion that I met in Bulungula), we carried on. In retrospect we shouldn't have. With an approximate combined weight of 400kg, we slid going through a muddy-waterhole, badly spraining Gwen's ankle which was caught under the pannier of the bike. Two days of R'n'R followed ... read more

I have returned to Khotso Backpackers in Underberg in the Southern Drakensberg Mountains. I first arrived here on March 21. In between now and then, good times have been had. Readers Digest Version I left Khotso on horseback and rode into Lesotho. Two days were spent riding to or around Sehlabathebe National Park in Lesotho. After that a few days were spent in the capital Maseru. From Molumong Lodge I did another two days of pony trekking. After Molumong Lodge we hiked down the famous Sani Pass back into S. Africa. So I arrived in Lesotho on the back of a horse and left on foot. How cool is that? From the base of Sani Lodge I took the opportunity to hike three days on the Giant Cup trail. The trail is intended as a five-day ... read more

We are in Lesotho having just crossed from South Africa. We have visited some local tribe people in one of their summer homes, they seemed very nice and we had some home made beer and bread. Now back to the jeep and down the Sani pass again. ... read more

One our first trips into the country was to visit Thaba Bosiu, the hilltop fortress that was used by King Moshoeshoe to resist the Zulu invaders in the 1820’s. Moshoeshoe was a great ruler and diplomat who welcomed and offered assistance to all of the varied peoples who sought refuge from the invading Zulu. Within a short period of time, his small band had expanded to a considerable number, which he united under the Basotho banner to form Basutoland, later called Lesotho. The site at Thaba Bosiu repelled many assaults, at first from the Zulu and later from the Boers. Moshoeshoe’s grave is atop Thaba Bosiu, which is regarded as one of the most important historical sites in Lesotho. We wanted to walk to the top, but we ended up not having time. Today was the ... read more