Where the mountains meet the sky – Mountain Kingdom Tour (part 1)

Lesotho, with its numerous mountain passes, glorious landscapes and friendly people, is the ideal playground for avid 4×4 adventurers. TRYGVE ROBERTS, from Mountain Passes South Africa, shares some insight on the country and the experiences you can expect to have there.

It took us a year to plan our trip to the Mountain Kingdom and seeing that Philip Rawlins is an expert on all matters Lesotho, we roped him in to ensure that our clients saw the very best of what the small, land-locked country has to offer. Moreover, he is well known in Lesotho and his presence ensured that we were whisked through roadblocks unhindered, whilst accommodation and meals also ran smoothly. For this reason, he was put at the front of the convoy – his first experience at leading a large group – while we fell in at the back as sweep.

Lesotho has changed a lot since our previous visit four years ago, with many new roads offering more convenience and speed (but that’s a relative term). One doesn’t measure distance in kilometres in Lesotho, but time. We found the locals overwhelmingly friendly. In some of the villages we were treated like celebrities as people lined both sides of the road, smiling, singing and cheering us on.

There were a few incidents of stone throwing by very young children – a learned response if tourists don’t give them a treat. We found the best way to deal with the matter was to slow right down, roll down your window and point your finger sternly at the perpetrator with a loud ‘NO!’. That would always see them dropping the stone and running away. Each time we took note of the time and place, and this will be reported back to Lesotho Tourism for those schools to receive some education in terms of tourism as they are keen to rid the country of this bad habit.

There is not much litter except in the larger towns like Maseru, Roma, Butha Buthe and Thaba-Tseka, but it’s nowhere near the levels we know in South Africa. The smaller villages were all quite spotless.

We found other road users to be very courteous towards us except – of course – for one or two taxis. The roads are also in relatively good nick and the only really bad stretch was from the Katse Dam down to Thaba-Tseka – 65km of rutted, potholed, washed-out gravel which probably hasn’t seen a road grader in a decade or more. The scenery along this road is fantastic, but it’s a case of eyes on the road all of the time.

A sight to behold

The mountain passes in Lesotho are on another level altogether. Compared to those found in South Africa they are bigger, higher and steeper. This results in a lot of gear changing, with the majority of the passes having to be driven in second gear as engines gasp for oxygen in the rarefied air at 3 000m above sea level.

Our timing was good. Although we experienced heavy rain on two of the six days, the weather was generally pleasant. We were treated to beautiful blue skies and the most dramatic scenery imaginable. Nothing can prepare you for the scenery in

Lesotho – there’s a vast abundance of it and trying to remember the sights from the day before can give you a headache! My advice is to take photographs and videos and label them the same day to keep track of your journey.

Cosmos was flowering over vast tracts of land presenting the most beautiful photographic opportunities. Above 2 000m there are very few trees which allows exceptionally clear views over the towering ridges and deep valleys.

Culture

Culturally speaking, the tour was a real eye-opener. We visited the Kome Caves where locals fled from the cannibals and 400 humans were eaten a day; such was the level of famine in those days. It’s a bit of a spooky place to visit but an almost surreal experience. The cultural village of Thaba Bosiu was out of this world and our guide was excellent. I personally learned more about the local history in an hour than in the rest of my life!

Perhaps the cultural highlight was the talk on blankets that we attended in Semongkong where a very well-spoken lady had our group spellbound with her explanation of the different blankets, their meanings, manner of being worn by males and females and the involvement of Queen Victoria in the process.

Highs and lows

Highlights of the trip included a full tour of the incredible Katse Dam, where we even managed to get some great drone footage. We also paid a visit to the Mohale Dam and – of course – the mind boggling 192m-high Maletsunyane Waterfall. The plunging water creates an echo when it reaches the basin of the falls and according to local legend the sound is the wailing of people who drowned there.

It rained hard right through the night at Semongkong and it was still raining the next morning, putting a bit of a damper (pun intended) on the day. However, within 50km the sky started getting lighter, which meant we could stick to our original route, exiting at Ramatselitso’s Gate north of Matatiele.

The tour was certainly not without mishaps. These included the Ford Ranger Wildtrak suffering a burst radiator hose, but thanks to the skills of Philip and Theo, we were back on the road within an hour. Ron Hendra left his wallet in Butha Buthe and had to make the two-hour drive back to retrieve it. He also suffered a sidewall cut to one of his vehicle’s tyres right at the exit border post. This was plugged and repaired by the ever-helpful Theo. The Land Rover Defender had a brake issue right at the start of the tour, which fixed itself. Murray Cubitt’s radio refused to operate on our VHF channel, so he spent most of the tour ‘audio blind’. These were all very minor problems considering the size of the convoy and the scope of terrain that we covered, though.

It’s always difficult finding the superlatives to describe our tours. Best ever. Resounding success. Remarkable. All of these sound feeble compared to the actual experience. The expressions on the faces of our guests on the final day said it all.

Our thanks to Philip and Elrita Rawlins for the hard work and effort invested to ensure a knockout tour and to each guest for their contributions, no matter how small.

*In part 2 we continue the journey as Trygve discusses Matatiele, Sani Pass, Moteng Pass and Butha Buthe. – Ed.

Like this article?

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Linkdin
Share on Pinterest

You might also like