Lesotho Warnings Or Dangers

 
by CatherineReichardt
 
  •   Warnings Or Dangers
    by CatherineReichardt
  •   Warnings Or Dangers
    by CatherineReichardt
  • Still room for a few more ...
      Still room for a few more ...
    by CatherineReichardt
  •   Warnings Or Dangers
    by CatherineReichardt
  • Switchbacks on the top section of Sani Pass
      Switchbacks on the top section of Sani...
    by CatherineReichardt
 
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Beware: the sun is very strong at high altitude

by CatherineReichardt

Again, a warning against something so obvious that I hesitate to mention it ...As you will hear time and time again, Lesotho is the highest country in the world, and with altitude, the sun - and most particularly the UV component becomes stronger. It's therefore essential to make sure that you take adequate precautions to make sure that you don't get surnburnt. The risk is especially high in the mountains, where the altitude is over 2,000m, and the coolness of the air tends to make you overlook how strong the sun is until the damage is done.My son managed to lose his hat just before we went pony trekking at Sani Top, and thus we had to rig up this Heath Robinson 'sunsafe' outfit for him. He was absolutely chuffed with the outcome and spent the rest of the day playing Ninja!

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Lesotho's roads: not for the faint hearted!

by CatherineReichardt

Let's start with the positive: Lesotho is the perfect place for an African road trip. Lesotho offers the highest mountain pass in Southern Africa (the Tlaeeng pass, at a breathtaking 3, 275m above sea level), the only vehicle pass over the Drakensberg (the highest mountains in the region) and stunning mountain scenery that will appeal to those eager to get off the beaten track. It is relatively untouristed, which means that you'll get to experience something that few other tourists to this part of the world get to see, and it's fairly inexpensive to boot.Lesotho has a reasonable network of roads, and quite a number of them can be negotiated in a conventional vehicle without 4 wheel drive (4WD) provided that the vehicle has good clearance to avoid sump busting boulders and potholes. However, this is not the case for all roads, and potential travellers need to check road conditions in...

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Don't take uninterrupted power supply for granted!

by CatherineReichardt

The Lesotho landscape has been changed forever by the construction of the massive Katse and Mohale Dams which comprise the first phases of the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme. This scheme started construction in the early 1990s and indeed was the reason why I first visited Lesotho, as a few years previously, I had been involved in calculating the water inflows to the tunnel under the Maluti mountains to the outfall near Clarens in South Africa.The purpose of the Lesotho Highlands Scheme is twofold: to provide water supply and to generate hydroelectric power. However, despite the scheme, large parts of Lesotho still experience frequent power outages, and some parts still don't have grid power at all. Thus, if you come from a part of the world that considers continuity of power supply as a given, then it's worth thinking through the potential implications of this so that you can plan...

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Road trips are always slower than you think!

by CatherineReichardt

One of the challenges for those planning a road trip in an unfamiliar country is to realistically estimate what distances can be covered. This is particularly problematic in a country like Lesotho where the distances (and more importantly, travel times) between towns are large, and where there are few (if any) alternative places to stop en route if you're running short on time.The speed limit on main roads in Lesotho is 100kph (80km on secondary roads and 65kph in towns) but I'd be absolutely amazed if you consistently managed to achieve this on anything other than the A2 main road from Maseru which parallels the western border with South Africa. Granted, there have been more and more roads which have been tarred in recent years, but tar surfaces don't necessarily equate to fast driving conditions in a country with such extreme topography and poor road maintenance - drive the section of...

Make sure your vehicle has sufficient clearance

by CatherineReichardt

Much is written about the need to have a 4x4 in Lesotho, but in reality, what is at least as important as having four wheel drive is having a vehicle with sufficiently high clearance to avoid the sump busting potholes and boulders on the Kingdom's mountaneous roads and also has enough 'grunt' to cope with steep gradients, even when travelling at low speed.We successfully traversed the Roof of Africa and negotiated the Sani Pass down into KwaZulu Natal in January - during midsummer - in a 21 year old Mitsubishi Pajero (which is a 4x4) and a Daihatsu Terios (which isn't). I would add that the Terios was a hire car which certainly wasn't our first choice, but as the hire car company stuffed up on our reservation (the 4x4 provided would not lock securely, and the Terios was the only viable option available) and so we had to make do. I would not have attempted this route in a 2x4 if...

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The dirt road from Mokhotlong to Sani Top

by CatherineReichardt

So much attention is focused on the perils of the Sani Pass that few travellers spare a thought for the road from Sani Top to Mokhotlong on the other side. This is illadvised as this is a challenging piece of road in its own right, and one that you should not undertake lightly.The stretch of road from the tar road just outside Mokhotlong to Sani Top is about 50km of poorly maintained dirt road that could be best described as 'character building'. The surface is uneven and rock-strewn in places, so you need to ensure that your vehicle has high clearance to avoid cracking your oil sump on a boulder. Other smoother sections are easier to negotiate in dry weather, but could easily be rendered treacherously slippy after heavy rain or under icy conditions.There are also sections of this road that are very steep, which poses a real problem for vehicles that don't have four wheel drive (4WD)....

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Limited cellphone reception in the mountains

by CatherineReichardt

This tip is full of blindingly obvious statements, but sometimes the things that we overlook - especially when travelling in an unfamiliar country - are the most obvious, so please forgive me if I seem to be insulting your intelligence.Firstly, Lesotho is a very mountainous place, and there are large areas of the country - particularly in the valleys - that do not have reliable mobile (cellphone) reception. In areas of weak signal, you may still be able to SMS (text) even if the signal isn't strong enough to sustain a call, so bear this in mind as an option.Nonetheless, it's well worth bringing a cellphone with you, as Lesotho's often erratic power supply means that conventional landlines don't work when the power trips. Thus, in order to be able to stay in contact, you may have little option other than to use your cellphone.It is also prudent to have a cellphone so that you're able to...

Lesotho's road signage leaves a lot to be desired!

by CatherineReichardt

If you wanted to be charitable, you would say that Lesotho's road signage is not constrained by any lack of opportunity for improvement ... in other words, it's pretty hopeless!Signage on the few main roads is OK, but this isn't really where you need it: it's the tangle of back roads - such as that travelling north from Thaba Bosiu - that need proper signage, and frankly it doesn't exist. Given that taking a wrong turn in Lesotho can result in a detour of tens of kilometres, this is at best frustrating, and at worst, downright dangerous if it results in you having to drive mountain roads in the dark.Given Lesotho's lack of resources, I can just about understand a lack of road signs indicating road number, directions and distances. However, curiously for an African nation, there is an almost total absence of signs indicating the name of villages and towns, which leaves you with little...

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Beware of driving behind overloaded vehicles!

by CatherineReichardt

Developing nations are renowned for overcrowded vehicles, and Lesotho is no exception: this is a random example spotted on the main road between Maseru and Teyateyaneng, where 13 adults were crammed into the back of a small bakkie (pick up truck). Technically this is illegal, but in reality, transport is hard to come by for most people and there is no enforcement of this sort of traffic violation, so the situation continues unabated.The risks to the people riding in the back of the bakkie are obvious: they are not constrained in any way, and one sudden jolt from one of the many potholes (let alone a collision with livestock or another vehicle) could potentially send the occupants flying across the road and into the path of oncoming traffic.From a risk management point of view, make sure that you keep a safe following distance so that you have sufficient warning and space to take evasive...

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Driving the Sani Pass? Don't forget your passport!

by CatherineReichardt

The Sani Pass is the only way to cross the Drakensberg escarpment on Lesotho's eastern border with South Africa (which, interestingly enough, totally surrounds it) - thus, it is an international border, and you require a passport to cross from one to other. If you want to be pedantic, the pass itself is technically 'no man's land', as the Lesotho border is at the top of the pass, and the South African border is at the bottom, with an intervening distance of 9km. This is reputed to be the longest distance between corresponding border posts on an international border in the world, although I am open to correction on this point.Looking at the photo, I'm sure that you will agree that it would be a shame to drive all the way up this, only to be refused admission, so make sure that you have checked that you have a (valid) passport with you before you set out, lest you have to drive back to...

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Safety Tips in Lesotho

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Q:  I am finalising my travel trip on South Africa -Lesotho -Swaziland. I have applied for a Visa for Lesotho and South Africa, but... 

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A: Pretoria is a city about 50 or so north-east of Jo'burg. I can't make any comments on local transport as we got there by car, and this was quite a few years ago now. If... 

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