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Lesotho and South Africa: January 2008
From Johannesburg we were transported to the border of Lesotho.
The border of Lesotho.
The “Gates of Paradise” pass to Malealea.
View of the Drakenserg Mountains from Malealea.
The local weather station.
Our packhorses and guides.
We set-off for the mountains.
A standoff.
Down to the bridge to cross the river.
Our packhorses wade the river.
As we passed through villages we would mobbed by children that
loved having their photos taken.
They were all lovely kids – and at no time begged for things.
Lance’s first (and last) time on a horse.
We were treated to magnificent views.
The Lesotho plateau: 1 mile above sea level.
Coming in to our first nights village: Ribaneng.
We relax after the 14 miles walk.
Unpacking the sleeping bags.
Next day we set off further into the plateau.
Beautiful plants every step of the way.
It’s not all walking – there is time to relax and…
Admire the view.
Our second night was at the village of Ha Hlalale.
The Chief of the village.
A young shepherd.
A short detour takes us to the Ketane
Gorge and its 122m (400ft) waterfall.
Next day we leave the village for our third days trekking.
There are the occasional river crossings – this time not on
horseback!
The national plant of Lesotho: Aloe “polyfiller”
More beautiful flowers.
Our third, and last, village night of the trek: Ha Sekoting.
Getting comfortable for the cool evening air.
Children of the village.
Next day we descend from the plateau into the valley back to Malealea.
On the last day of our trek it is time for a group photo. By
this stage we are becoming rather mature, well at least as far as odour is
concerned!
Alan and Graeme, our intrepid guides, pose at the pass.
After three days without running water we are starting to feel
quite grubby!
At the bottom of the pass we come to a small, beautifully
located, village. In the distance, on the right-hand side, is Malealea, our destination for the evening.
We pass through villages in the valley.
Many a river to cross – and Julie just loves them!
Our head guide, Graeme, crosses yet another river.
It’s nice to be clean again, and shaven! Relaxing back in Malealea after a trek of approximately 60 miles.
So it’s back on the road for us: cutting across the northern
limits of Lesotho, we drive from Malealea to Sani
Top on New Years Eve.
Our guides pose at the top of the highest road pass on our trip:
10700ft (2 miles high!)
We are on very remote roads, and the trip takes 11 hours to
complete.
But finally we get there!
Sani Top for New Years Eve
celebrations: but would you believe not one of us made it to midnight (except
Sorcha, on a technicality, who had to get-up just after midnight for a pee).
On New Years Day we did a walk to
Hodgson’s Peak – this was a most memorable day for the stupendous views from
the Lesotho plateau looking into South Africa.
Once at the escarpment the views just got better and better!
And better…
Not a particularly long walk, we spent most of the day
sunbathing and admiring the scene around us.
It was a glorious day…
We both really enjoyed it!
Next day we had to exit Lesotho: the Sani Pass Lesotho exit
stamp in your passport must be one of the rarest
Time to leave Lesotho…
View from Sani Top: the road snakes its way down the pass.
Down and down.
And down…
Looking back up the Sani Pass, to the escarpment that separates
Lesotho from South Africa.
Finally we reach the border post of South Africa.
Our accommodation for the last 3 nights of our holiday: Singubala, near the Royal Natal National Park. Under the
thatched roofs there are tents, each one with two beds, and they are
delightful! Also the food at Singubala was
excellent and plentiful.
We did a walk directly from Singubala,
taking us to Surprise Ridge, The Cannibal Cave and some rock art…
Not ancient, but art all the same…
Somewhat older rock art – this is a hunting scene.
The Cannibal Cave…
The view from Surprise Ridge: The Amphitheatre.
The walk went past some incredible flowers.
Stunning!
The area around Singubala has lots of
wild baboons: this was our best view of the trip. Our last walking day was also the first rainy day of the entire
holiday. We were first driven to the Royal Natal National Park, and then
walked into the Amphitheatre. The clouds were very low, and it rained a lot
of the time, we therefore only had the briefest glimpses of the top rock
curtain.
The canyon was very impressive, even in the rain.
And the rain did not diminish the flowers. And so we come to the last evening of the holiday: time for some
of us to say cheerio.
Paul and Elizabeth discover Porcupine Ridge Syrah.
Carlo delivers the thank you speech to our guides Graeme, Alan
and Patrick.
Carlo recalls Robert saying “ have that
sheep shampooed and brought to my hut”. You had to be there, to know Robert
and, to appreciate the moment…
A big thank you to Graeme for all his efforts making the holiday
a most memorable experience for us all. Graeme is forming his own business as
a guide for walking holidays with emphasis upon photography: www.bup-photo.com and his e-mail, graeme@bup-photo.com Not many folk on this trip came though unscathed: Julie and I
were recovering from flu when we joined the trek, I had motion sickness on
the 11 hour drive to Sani Top, the guides developed knee problems (and Alan
developed a cold), Carlo went through Paradise Pass, and into hell and back
with cold and the “Sani Trots”. We had folk with blisters, second-degree
sunburn, migraine and various assortments of aches and pains. However,
everyone enjoyed the holiday (I’m sure) and we were incredibly lucky with the
weather – for once (out of 13 trips) Graeme, whose nickname by the locals is
“Raindrop” because of his unerring ability to bring rain, brought almost
unbroken sunshine. Back to the Top
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