Blogs from Lesotho, Africa - page 8

Having said my goodbyes at the airport I took a taxi into Jo'burg. I hadn't exactly been looking forward to returning to the city and I was feeling pretty apprehensive as the Lesotho minibus stand is not inside the official bus station. Things were made worse by the fact that my taxi driver was blatantly a criminal. As I drove through the city he insisted on pointing out all the places where he goes when he is on the run from the police. As you can imagine this was not very reassuring. He also had absolutely no idea where he was going so it took me about twice as long as it should have to reach my destination. When I got there a minibus was just leaving so I had to spend about an hour hanging ... read more

Our sleep at the mission was possibly the best we'd had in Africa so far and we even managed a whopping lie in, 8.30am, somewhat of a record for us! We procrastinated until the last possible minute in the hope that a lift or another option might come our way before deciding on a big bus to a small junction village called Moitsupeli, which was half way back to Maseru and where we were told we could transfer via a short walk to "the other tar road" going South to a place called Malealea, supposedly the jewel of Lesotho. By doing this we figured we could minimise our backtracking as all the roads in Sthn Lesotho were dead ends, well the ones we needed were any way. Whilst waiting for the big bus to depart we ... read more

The Roma Trading Post turned out to be exactly what we needed, a sanctuary. For the next two days we used it as a base whilst we explored on foot and via mini bus the surrounding area including small villages and local markets, our favourites, but also Maseru, the capital of Lesotho only 30km away, the National University, ancient bushman rock paintings, and among other things, dinosaur footprints. As was becoming the norm in Lesotho our adventures often yielded their own small, but very random and distinct chapters. After another colossal and comfortable sleep courtesy of "The Long Way Round Lads´" mattresses, we commandeered Thiddy (that´s P Thiddy to you and I,) a local employee of the TP to guide us on the short hike to the nearby dinosaur footprints. P Thiddy had excellent English and ... 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

I was propping up the bar in a Durban hostel on the first night of my trip to Southern Africa. My enquiries at the hostel regarding a weekend safari at the nearby national park had reached a dead end, and it was while nursing a drink that I met the Action Man, a colourful young Alaskan guide and quite the adventurer. He dazzled me with tales of the Alaskan wilderness and encounters with grizzly bears. He would get dropped in by helicopter, he said, then wander alone camping without seeing a single soul for ten days or more before the pilot flew back to a prearranged spot to pick him up. "Why don't you come with me to Lesotho?" Action Man suggested "I've organised a hire car and you can tag along. Just chip in for ... read more