Fun things to do in Lesotho

The prospect of meeting an ice rat probably doesn't sound particularly attractive to the average traveller, but once you've made the acquaintance of these delightful little critters, you may well wish to revise your opinion!

African ice rats - technically known as Sloggett's ice rat - are common in the mountains of Lesotho, and live between the rocks. They are about the size of a small European rat, but are distinguished by their shaggy coats and short, short tails. Unlike other rats, their snouts are rounded rather than pointy, which make them look more like voles or gerbils, and the overall effect is rather cuddly and endearing.

You may see ice rats scuttling between boulders as you drive through the mountains, but your best chance of getting a good look at them is probably at Sani Top chalets, where they live in the rocks under the main hotel building and are relatively habituated to humans.

One of Lesotho's great attractions is the opportunity to pursue outdoors activities in a relatively unspoilt environment.

The same advantage was apparent to the first white setllers, who had to be of the "huntin', shootin', fishin'" mould to survive somewhere so remote and cut off from centres of civilisation. Unfortunately Lesotho's terrain and climate is too extreme to support much in the way of large game - eland were not considered particularly good sport - so the delights were largely restricted to shooting small game (partridge and francolin) and fishing.

Lesotho's rivers already hosted native species such as yellowfish (also known as 'scalies', which sound like a mildly contagious skin condition), but these were not considered sufficiently 'sporting' by the new arrivals. One of the most formidable pioneers of remote eastern Lesotho, Major Harry Smith, therefore took it upon himself to introduce brown trout from the Giant's Castle nature reserve in adjoining Natal in 1935.

Trout may be considered sporting fish for the angler, but there is nothing sporting about the way that these invasive aliens outcompete native species who are not used to vying with such voracious competition for limited natural resources. Lesotho's fast flowing streams and crystal clear waters were very much to the liking of the trout, but as in so many places elsewhere, the introduction of trout has lead to the devastation of the natural aquatic ecosystem.

1 more image

As ever, I have left writing the more complex tip on a destination until last because it's difficult to know where to start.

Well, let me begin by saying that I have drawn much of the content for this tip from the excellent book, "The Saga of the Sani Pass on Mokhotlong" by Michael Clark, which I bought in nearby Himeville (where Peter is heavily involved with the Himeville Museum).

The Drakensberg is a formidable mountain range, whose buttresses rise up almost vertically from the surrounding landscape and it was a source of immense frustration to the first white settlers that they could find no way to conquer this barrier.

The route which was to become the Sani Pass (and roughly follows the course of the Mkomazana River) was undoubtedly known to the San (Bushmen) who were the original inhabitants of this area. The first recorded use of the route was by retreating AmaHlubi tribe in the 1870s, when they retreated from British troops who were trying to impose taxation on the native population, who understandably took badly to this suggestion and rose up in revolt.

The strategic importance of the pass as a way of facilitating easier access to remote eastern Lesotho had long been recognised, but even so, it took decades for this to become a reality.

I was flabbergasted to learn that the first form of transport up the pass were pack trains of women who was used to transport, among other things, a disassembled wagon for use on the relatively flat land at Sani Top! The bridle path was formalised in 1916 and the 'pack women' were phased out in favour of donkey or horse trains: in autumn, after the shearing season was complete, anything up to 2,000 pack animals would use the trail each day. However, the terrain was so appalling that the animals often lost their footing and fell to their deaths: a situation that was exacerbated by the Basotho practice of roping the pack animals head-to-tail so that a single person could lead a large number of animals.

The pass was first negotiated by a vehicle in 1948 when Godfrey Edmond painstakingly nursed a Jeep up the trail, and the first 'ordinary' vehicle to conquer the pass was VW Beetle driven by Leicester Symons in 1956. It's worth seeking out Michael Clark's book just for the hair raising photos taken over this period of vehicles whose wheels are clinging to the edge of the track and reversing repeatedly to edge around particularly tight corners.

The road was progressively improved from that point onwards, with the steeper sections and more torturous corners having been re engineered, which involves extensive realignment and blasting. However, today the Sani Pass is still a daunting prospect and not one to be taken lightly. The route from the Sani Pass Hotel outside Himeville to the Sani Top chalets is over 22km long and involves an elevation difference of over 1,300m. The names of the landmarks along the road echo the challenges en route: Big Wind Corner, Suicide Bend, Blind Man's Corner, Ice Corner and my personal favourite, Haemorrhoid Hill (whose derivation I do not even want to contemplate)!

There is an excellent viewpoint at 2,482m -which is about 4km from Sani Top - which commands a spectacular view down the valley and is a good point to stop to slow your racing pulse and/or prepare yourself for the final ascent (depending on whcih way you're driving the pass).

There is fierce debate on whether it is better to drive the pass going up or coming down, and the time of year that it's best to do this in. For what it's worth, we did it in midsummer (January) and the conditions were absolutely perfect, both for driving and for appreciating the stunning scenery: however, bear in mind that this is also the rainy season, and driving such a dangerous road after - or, worse still - during a thunderstorm is a daunting prospect. Conditions are drier in winter, but then you need to take into consideration a different range of hazards, including icy conditions, high winds and snow. I think that if I had my pick, then I'd probably recommend the period around Easter, when the rains are coming to an end, but the landscape is still lush and the mountainsides have that peculiar velvety appearance so characteristic of the Drakensberg.

As to whether to drive up or down the pass (assuming that you're travelling to/from Lesotho)? Well, a cynic would observe that it's really a matter of whether you have greater faith in your brakes or your clutch! We drove down the pass - which meant that we could fully appreciate the jawdropping vistas - but from a safety point of view, you probably have greater control if you drive up. And of course there are the day trippers who drive up and down in a single day, in which case, be sure to go easy on your celebratory drinks in the highest pub in Africa!

A couple of final pointers: vehicles driving up have right of way over traffic coming down. Also just be warned that drivers who are inexperienced on steep mountain roads will be tempted to sit on the clutch on the way up, and the day before we drove the pass, some tourists had burned out the clutch of their Daihatsu hire car. Just who you call to assist you under these circumstances - given than you're travelling through the widest no man's land in the world (and thus, are technically not in any country) - is an interesting point! Also check your hire car insurance carefully as it is recommended by most authorities - including the Automobile Association - that you need four wheel drive (4WD) for the pass, so trying to drive this in a 2WD may negate your insurance cover.

What do you do if you don't have a car? Well, the pass is negotiable by motorbike and even by mountain bike (for the masochistic), and it can also be walked, in which case I'd recommend that you get a lift to the South African border post, as it's too far to trek up and down the pass and make it to/from the nearest hotel/cam ground on the South African side in a day. There are also a number of tour operators in Underberg who run day trips (and longer) up the pass into Lesotho if you're not confident of your own driving or just want to admire the view!

And whatever you do, remember that this in an international border, so don't forget your passport - it's a long way back!

Quite simply one of my best travel experiences ever - and one that I am particularly proud that we undertook in a three generational convoy whose members ranged in age between 5 and 77!

1 more image

Lesotho offers excellent bird watching andallows you relatively easy access to high altitude species that you wouldn't necessarily be able to spot elsewhere.

My husband's family were stationed in Lesotho for a few years in the late 1970s, and my father-in-law (an avid twitcher and bird photographer) entertained himself on weekends by compiling a field guide to the birds of Lesotho, which includes the names of each species in seven languages. As far as we can determine, this is still the definitive work on Lesotho's bird life.

Lesotho's birds have had to adapt to a high altitude environment in which there is relatively little food available, so you don't see either the abundance of species or the sheer numbers of birds that you'd encounter in a more hospitable environment. Many of the species are cryptic because Lesotho offers relatively little in the way of vegetation to provide refuge for birds, and there are a range of grassland species such as larks and cisticolas which less-than-compulsive birders would place into the category of LBJs (little brown jobbies).

First prize in Lesotho is a sighting of the lammergeier - also known as the bearded vulture - which is the largest and most dramatic bird found in the Kingdom. The name is derived from the perception that the bird is a 'lamb thief', and this unfortunate (and incorrect) assumption has lead to eradication programmes in the past, particularly on the South African side of the Drakensberg. In fact lammergeiers are vultures, and would thus much rather feed on carrion rather than on live meat - we saw a lammergeier soaring just past Letšeng diamond mine (where they apparently congregate around the rubbish dump), but unfortunately it was too high to get a decent photo.

Another distinctive species that you might encounter is the bald headed ibis which, like all ibises, have the characteristic curved bill. They are easily distinguished by their bald crimson heads and the livid coloured skin stretched tight over their skulls looks almost painful. Unfortunately their numbers have plummeted in recent years, but we saw several in the area north of Thaba Bosiu, where they were working over newly ploughed fields for tasty grubs and insects (again, too far away to photograph well).

Our last visit was in January - high summer - when the red hot pokers were in full bloom. These attract the malachite sunbirds (who occupy the same ecological niche as hummingbirds) who come in to feed on the nectar. Their irridescent plumage makes them particularly photogenic, and their frenetic darting between blooms is mesmerising. This is a relaxing activity that I would highly recommend whilst sitting outside at the Sani Top chalets, fortified by a cold Maluti!

1 more image

The Moteng pass is one of Lesotho's prettiest and most accessible mountain passes, and although there are higher, at 2,820m (about 9,250 feet) above sea level, it's not to be sneezed at!

The pass snakes up into the Maluti mountains from Butha Buthe, and is on the most heavily trafficked route to Sani Top (admittedly a relative term). The road is excellently constructed with a well maintained tar surface, and is passable to ordinary vehicles as well as those with 4 wheel drive. It's not a difficult drive, but it is a slow one, as the pass is a series of switchbacks, and can be particularly time consuming if you get stuck behind one of the trucks travelling to the diamond mines.

From a geological point of view, the pass is interesting, as it walks you up through the geological profile, from the honey coloured Clarens sandstone outside Butha Buthe (with its characteristic overhangs) into the volcanic basalt which forms the high Maluti mountains.

If you feel the urge to press on and scale the highest mountain pass in Southern Africa, keep driving east until you reach the Tlaeeng Pass, which is a breathtaking 3,275m metres (about 10,750 feet) above sea level. However, be warned that at the time of writing (February 2012), the section of road around Letšeng mine was extremely poor, so allow yourself sufficient time to negotiate this section (over which we averaged only 20kph).

Maybe I've lived and worked in the developing world for too long, but I don't like border posts one little bit. My experience is that they are ominous places peopled by bad tempered officials with inferiority complexes who are eager to work out their despotic tendencies on hapless tourists ... but in the case of the Sani pass border between Lesotho and South Africa, I'll make a notable exception!

The Sani Pass border post is unique in so many ways that it can hardly fail to be endearing. To start with, it is staggeringly picturesque, and it's almost impossible to be negative about somewhere that's just so beautiful. And then of course there's the fear factor and the quavering knowledge that the only way to pass between the two border posts is to conquer a pass that inspires trepidation in even the most ardent offroader.

And finally, there are the completely trivial considerations ... which of course are precisely the ones that appeal to people like me! At conventional borders, the immigration posts are separated by a 'no man's land' of a few metres over which the border officials can eyeball each other with varying degrees of hostility depending on the warmth of neighbourly relations. However, at Sani Pass, there simply isn't enough flat land to allow for such a construction ... and so the Lesotho border post is perched at the top of the pass, 7km distance (and at 1400m elevation difference) from the South African border post at the foot of the pass! This is reputed to be the widest 'no man's land' in the world and the sensation of passing through a corridor that doesn't technically belong to any country is a heady one.

Oh yes, and just to completely buck the trend, I should mention that the border officials were very nice indeed ...

When you travel, there are certain hardships that you need to impose on yourself in order to experience the iconic, and this is certainly the case when it comes to resurrecting your carcass at 04:30 to witness sunrise from the Roof of Africa!

Fortunately in midsummer, the temperature was positively balmy - about 7ªC - and as there was little chance of encountering anyone else at that hour, I was able to slip on my shoes, nip out of the chalet in my pyjamas, take my photos and slip back under the covers within five minutes: in the sub zero temperatures of winter, it would be a different matter altogether, but then the trade off is that you wouldn't have to get up as early!

What is the cheat's way of experiencing this? Well, the shower in our bathroom had a window looking out over the escarpment, so having sleepily asked me on my return whether it was worth seeing, my husband (anything but a morning person) stumbled blearily into the shower, peeked out the window, agreed that it was indeed spectacular and shuffled back into bed ... gathering of the photographic evidence had, of course, had already been subcontracted!

An obliging spouse (who's also a morning person) can sometimes be a wonderful asset!

Lesotho's extensive network of bridle paths are the arteries of the nation, and without these routeways, large parts of the country would be simply inaccessible. Although the bridle paths were intended to facilitate access by pony or donkey, they also make splendid walking trails.

Lesotho's system of existing bridle paths was greatly extended between 1930 and 1932, when the entire region was gripped by a major drought. The British administration realised that one of the ways of alleviating the resultant famine was to open up access to additional grazing in the remote interior. This involved the establishment of hundreds of kilometres of additional bridle path in a 'make work' programme that also provided much needed temporary employment to Basotho whose subsistence agriculture had been hammered by the poor rainfall. The paths were constructed according to the British imperial norm of a path eight feet wide, which is wide enough to allow two animals loaded with pack saddles to safely pass each other.

Tempting though it might seem, please resist the temptation to use bridle paths as vehicle tracks, as chances are that you'll pay a high price. These paths were not designed for this purpose, so the chances of getting bogged down are high, with the added downside that (unlike designated roads) there is not likely to be another vehicle travelling the same route anytime soon who will be able to assist you. Driving on these roads (which are hand constructed and maintained) also contributes to potential erosion in a country that cannot afford to lose any more of its thin topsoil and when wet, the black turf is just waiting to lovingly embrace your wheels on a semi-permanent basis!

Take my word for it - Lesotho's roads are challenging enough without having to venture off road for your thrills!