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LESOTHO
'Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.'
Confucius
4th May
The steep, very rocky and rough route into Lesotho, the highest pass in South Africa and the only road between KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho, is one of the most scenic parts of the Drakensberg. The scenery and views became more and more spectacular the higher we got. Many rocks were covered in ice that even the strong sun wasn't able to melt and water gushed down gullies from high up in the mountains, flowing across the road and rocks on a number of occasions. There was only one icy bend on the road but that was enough with sheer drops at the edge!
At the top of the Sani Pass at 2843 metres, we got our visas and passports stamped and then relaxed at the Sani Top Chalet, the highest pub in South Africa. We had hot mugs of tea and toasted sandwiches, enjoyed the wonderful view feeling on top of the world and watched the little furry Sloggett rats popping in and out of their holes in the ground.
We left the top of the pass at approx. 3 p.m. and continued up and down the winding mountain roads until we finally arrived at Mokhotlong, which has the reputation of being the coldest, driest and most remote place in Lesotho.
Moby has performed brilliantly and so have our tyres, probably having passed over some of the roughest, rockiest and steepest tracks of our journey yet.
We were going to stay at the Mission in Mokhotlong and we were given a warm welcome by Matsolo, the Pastor's wife. She took us up to the Mission House, started up the wood burning stove in a corner and put a candle in our room, plus a mattress, pillows and blankets.
Clemont, the Headmaster of the Harvester Hillock School, situated just below the Mission House, put a huge kettle of water on to boil and we sat and had tea and biscuits in the cosy, smoky room with just the light from the stove.
A large Christian group from His Church in Durban (including Doraine and Steven whom we had met at Exafrica), were also meant to be arriving that evening but as it was now dark and they had not arrived, Matsolo invited us to eat at her house and asked us to follow Clemont there in a short while. Such kind hospitality!
Headlights passing the window a while later however, announced the arrival of the other visitors and so the large cooking pots from Matsolo's house, were carried up the hill to the Mission, containing potatoes, pumpkin, a green vegetable dish, meat and steamed bread. We all sat or stood, wherever we could find room and tucked into this delicious meal. Following this, we discussed how each one of us could help in the different classes at the school the next day. There were 7 grades, starting with pre-school and Bill and I chose Grade 2 (7yrs).
Because of the large number of people now all needing beds, we decided we should give up our mattress inside and sleep in our tent. It was a very cold night and we all had to be up early in the morning, especially as there was only one toilet and shower, although plenty of hot water!
5th May
A heavy frost and bright sunshine greeted us in the morning, no wonder we had both been a bit chilly in the night! The sun cast sharp shadows on the mountains as we walked down to the school just before 8 a.m. I wonder if any other school has such a wonderful view!
The school was a simple, rectangular, stone building surrounded on three sides by an earthed area for playtime, which must become very muddy when it rains. In the middle of this area was a small hut with a door for the girl's toilet. A piece of corrugated metal curved out from this for the boys to pee up against. This all trickled out into the play area and by lunch time, the smell was very strong!
The school building was also in need of repair but really a new school was badly needed for the children and teachers, both of whom worked in difficult conditions.
The Grade 2 classroom was small, there were enough little plastic chairs for the children to sit on but only two, small, wooden benches, which meant that although some children could lean their books on these, the majority had to work on their laps.
The children all lined up before going into school and sang songs using body actions which helped to keep them warm.
Everyone kept their coats on in the classroom as there was no heating, some windows were broken and our classroom did not have a door. Nothing on the walls, but two pieces of chipboard provided a blackboard area at the front. The school had run out of chalk so the new boxes brought by the Christian group were very welcome.
Bill and I had 14 in our class, mostly boys, but every child was so well behaved, eyes always on the teacher, no talking and so keen to learn.
We introduced ourselves but soon realised it was going to be a losing battle to try and remember all the children's names, let alone even pronounce them correctly, so we moved on to teaching 'time' at the request of Mantsimane, their teacher.
The children had their exercise books in their school bags and we gave them all a new pencil. One at a time they drew round a metal disc that Bill had found in the Land Rover and then put numbers and hands on to make a clock face. Mantsimane found a clock in the school so that the hands could be moved to learn o'clock. By the end of the lesson, the children had fun recognising time on the hour as Bill turned the hands of the school clock and Mantsimane was well pleased!
We were then asked to take a Bible lesson and to read a verse from Genesis about the creation of humans and how they should respect living creatures. We surprisingly managed to get quite a discussion going from just this one verse and finished by singing the first verse of 'All Things Bright and Beautiful'.
Friday was a half day at school but lunch was provided and all the children waited very patiently for the 'dinner lady' to give them a thick sandwich and a beaker of juice or water.
How badly these children need a new school and how lovely if they could also have such resources as paints and paper and crayons, they are so eager to learn and they work so hard.
Once the children had left, we all walked back up to the Mission House to have our lunch, all feeling somewhat subdued at just how much these children needed.
Later, we spread our maps outside in the shade and Bruce (from the Christian Group) spent some time with us, advising the best route to Cape Town, interesting places to visit and possible camp sites. We really appreciated his knowledge of South Africa and know it will be useful in our journey. Many thanks Bruce.
A large number of the Christian group left for the village later in the day and planned to stay overnight there. The rest of us enjoyed rice and a large chicken stew that evening and Khotso sat with me by the wood burning stove and taught me how to say some useful words and phrases in his own language.
6th May
We decided to leave Mokhotlong today. Although we would have loved to stay longer and to help wherever we could, it was clear from Bruce's suggested route, that we still had a long way to go before reaching Cape Town and of course, the rest of Lesotho to drive across yet and we were also very behind with our journey due to the shipping delay.
It was sad to say goodbye to Matsolo, the people from the Mission and to such a great group of dedicated people from Durban, who had welcomed us into their group and who, we are sure, will be returning to the Mission again to do more good work.
We began our drive across the middle of Lesotho and arrived at our next destination in the middle of the afternoon, Thaba Teska, a remote town on the eastern edge of the Central Range, still at over 2000 metres. We had driven through spectacular, remote and rugged countryside, soaring mountains, tumbling waterfalls, rushing rivers and amazing sky scapes, all quite overwhelming. Such a beautiful and challenging environment, where heights, depths, sizes, distances and temperatures have all been extreme. It has been quite breathtaking and the Basotho people so friendly. Wrapped in their thick blankets to protect them from the intense cold, they live in such harsh conditions, their round, stone huts perched on the mountain sides or in the valleys. We passed young boys herding sheep, goats and cattle high up on the mountain slopes, donkeys driven home at the end of the day loaded with firewood, villagers riding their sure footed ponies to cover the enormous distances, followed always by their faithful dogs and children running out to the edge of the roads, both hands cupped together and chanting 'please sweets.'
We camped that night in the field at the side of the Mountain Star Guest House and got buckets of hot water from their kitchen for washing. A very clear night and even our hooded, down sleeping bags were not enough to keep out the cold.
7th May
Dogs barking, the dull clanking of sheep and cattle bells and some loud music woke us early to another frost, but by 8 a.m. the sun shining from a cloudless sky had melted the last of it.
We drove all day on a very rough and pot holed road, climbed to nearly 3000 metres feeling once again as if we were on top of the world, back down again to Marakabef and up again through Cheche's Pass.
We then began the long snake down to the Mohale Dam where the water reflected the blue of the sky against a backdrop of mountains - just beautiful!
We decided not to stay at the Mohale Guest House as there was no camping but continued toward Maseru where we plan to cross back into South Africa once more, at the Maseru Bridge border post.
The road suddenly changed to tarmac, our first since we began the Sani Pass. We drove up again through the Blue Mountain Pass and then the Molimo Nthuse Pass which gave us a spectacular view of the Bushman's Pass, before the road took us back down to the fertile plains and we sadly began to leave the mountains behind us. We were not going to make the border as it was getting late and we didn't seem to be able to find anywhere to camp, so we took a room at the Molengoane Lodge in Nazareth. We meet Alfred (a Basotho) at the reception who couldn't have been more attentive and who made sure everything was just right for us. He served us a lovely breakfast the next morning and wheeled over a paraffin heater to our table to make sure we kept warm!
8th May
We left the Lodge, waited for herdsmen, dogs and two herds of cattle with huge bells around their necks to pass and began the short journey to the border post where we will enter South Africa.
Sadly, after all our beautiful sky scapes, we noticed a yellow smog on the horizon in the direction of Maseru, the capital city. In no time at all on the tarmac roads, we arrived at the border and immediately realised that this was not the best border to have chosen, being so close to the city.
A queue of local people, many probably hoping to find work in South Africa, stretched for easily 100 yards and it took us 3 hours, standing in this queue, through the heat of the day, before we finally reached the window to get our passports stamped.
Lesotho has been truly spectacular and the Basotho people so helpful and friendly.
I am sure there will be, but at the moment I am wondering if anywhere else in Africa, will match up to this spectacular country!
- comments
Horst Zeidl Very interesting and a good round up of our own experience with this beautiful country, we stayed 10 days, went also over sani pass, stayed in 10 mile riverside (first camp after sani, very interesting and good services like horse riding dancing traditional life etc.), than near the diamand mine 3 days in a new campground, after that direct 4x4 track to St. Martins Mission Camp in the middle of nowhere, 2x Katse dam Camp- just opposite the dam, next camp in Mohale camp (free camp near the city hall with permission of the mayor) Than we took off through Maseru bridge ( the line up was only about 20 yards in the afternoon) A lot of road construction is done between Thaba Teska and the Mohale dam and a great junk has been paved to european standards. It was my second visit to lesotho and the changes in the 9 years in between have been very little except for the big projects. Kind regards Horst Zeidl