Read about Ron & Viv's journey so far through Africa - Late February - early March 2007.
South Africa Flag
The road up Sani Pass into Lesotho.
Lesotho Flag Flag
The highest pub in africa and a must stop for the view and a beer.
Beautiful mountainous country and a typical village.
AFRICA TRIPLate February - Early March 2007
Sani Pass and Lesotho
The rain came quickly – big pelting drops off it while the thunder and lightening crashed and thrashed around us in a vivid and dramatic display of nature's raw power. It was without a doubt the most powerful and intimidating thunderstorm I had ever witnessed … and it was our first camp in Africa!
The rain came quickly – big pelting drops of it while the thunder and lightening crashed and thrashed around us in a vivid and dramatic display of nature's raw power. It was without a doubt the most powerful and intimidating thunderstorm I had ever witnessed … and it was our first camp in Africa!
The climb up Sani Pass gets steeper and steeper until we were in the switchbacks – 7 of them I think. The New Zealander in the small 4WD bakkie had to back up three times to get up one of the sections. Looking back down the valley is very impressive and you can see the trail for much of the way.
The first vehicle up (or down) the pass was a Land Rover in 1949. A Mercedes truck carrying 3.5 tonnes of supplies made it thru' in 1966. From then it has grown in 4WD circles as one of the most challenging drives in Southern Africa. There are plans to bitumise it and while work has started at the far lower end of the route most locals are skeptical about when and if ever, it will be achieved. In the meantime it still ranks as one of the great four wheel drive trips on the continent.
Just when you are thinking you are King Dick in your 4WD a local taxi mini bus (normally a HiAce) crawls pass heading down the mountain. But they don't come back the same way – they choose an easier but longer access route to Lesotho! Loaded with a dozen people or more they are working pretty hard.
Just to the north of the border post – the first building you see in fact when climbing the pass – is the Sani Pass hotel . This is the highest hotel in Africa and we had to have a beer even though the sun wasn't over the yardarm. The Sani Tops beer wasn't on tap, so we settled for a Windhoek Light. The girls had a hot chocolate which was more in the keeping with the weather. While it wasn't raining it was cool,but the view out the back and down the pass is magnificent.
The amount of snow they get here is unreal and there is a great shot of Durban to the Drakensbergs – the mountains all covered in snow. They run the place as a ski resort but the gear is near museum material. The lowest temperature recorded here was -20°C and it seems from the records to get down to -15°C or so every year.
The country was covered in typical high plains low scrubby vegetation. There was, absolutely, no trees to be seen as far as you could see. The country was extremely steep towering upwards to what is the highest peak in southern Africa just to the north of the road. The occasional scattering of a small group of rough rock built huts and the odd mob of sheep or goats or,
even less occasionally, a small group of cattle could be seen. Nearby were men draped in worn well used blankets watching their mobs. The more affluent ones were riding horses and they were good horses, while others were riding donkeys or were pushing these small poor animals along loaded with bags and supplies. This is very harsh country and they somehow eek a living out of it. It would seem that they are only up here in summer as it would be too snow covered and cold in winter.
The road dropped slightly from the head of the pass and then climbed again to a high pass of 3252 metres. The view from the top was of one steep range upon steep range vanishing off into the distance.
We pushed on through a continual run of scattered villages until we got to Liphofung Cave and it new cultural and heritage centre (GPS 28°45'13”S 28°29'43”E). It hadn't been finished but they offered us a bed and a hut – no running water or electricity for R50/person. It was raining and dark clouds heralded more so we accepted and moved into what will be their lodge.
Next morning I'm sitting on a rock overlooking the nearby valley as the first light touches the peaks around us. The village that surrounds the centre is coming awake; close to the ridge, two men are slowly pushing their cattle out to graze, two women in deep and earnest conversation are walking along the track over the other side of the valley heading to get water; a man with his two donkeys loaded up with some bags are quickly walking along the trail; kids in their school uniform are climbing the steepish track from the valley floor to the ridge and then vanishing only to reappear on a more distant hillside as they walk to school; and later a man with his cart pulled by two cows or bullocks heads along the worn valley track to a distant village.
Went on a tour of the Liphofung Cave art site. There's a boardwalk and ladders leading down to the cave, which is situated just above the fast flowing stream. There's a waterfall at the upper end of the cave but it was only a thin stream, but by all accounts the cave never floods. The cave has a long history right up until present time and it played an important part in the life of the recent (1800's) kings of Lesotho. The old San paintings are rather faint but signs guide you to what was once there and then you can see the pictures of elands and man-animals as the San painted many images when in a trance – the first European records of them dates back to the 1800s.
The scenery wasn't anywhere near as spectacular in this flatter and much more settled area of eastern Lesotho. There were cars, not buses, as taxis, people and huts everywhere and fewer horses and donkeys, although they were still around. The houses became more modern as well and we even passed a fuel outlet – the first since the village at Mokhotlong.
FOR MORE PICS - SEE PICTURE GALLERY PAGE ON SOUTH AFRICA, SANI PASS & LESOTHO
Lesotho Map
