Last Tuesday we entered into Lesotho, but not through the fabled Gates of Paradise, a spectacular vista in the southern part of the country, that we had hoped to see. We were actually diverted while still in South Africa. The border town of Wepener was halfway underwater when we arrived late morning, but people were still trying to cross the flowing meter-high floodwaters that had come as recently as an hour before. We briefly contemplated the idea of crossing, but common sense prevailed and we instead drove 120 kilometers north to the Maseru Bridge border post. It was still raining.
We had not been in an African city like Maseru for a long time, a far cry from the sanitized capitols of Windhoek and Gaborone. It felt a little chaotic, but not particularly unsafe. People crowding the middle of the streets, total disregard for traffic laws, and the obvious poverty however made us feel a little tense as the smell of burning trash filled the air. We navigated the one-way streets, looking for affordable accommodation. After being turned away at two places, we were recommended to the Lesotho Durham Link, a hostel-like organization co-built by a group in the UK that seemed to handle lots of local church groups, much like the Kukuri Centre in Okahandja, Namibia. Good news was that we had a backpacker’s room to ourselves, the beds were very comfortable, and we were the first in the showers. Not-so-great news was that there were hoards of flies everywhere, the kitchen was a bit sketchy, and we shared the facilities with about twenty other people which made for less than stellar kitchen and bathroom sanitation (not the number of people, but more how they used the facilities which was the problem).It continued to rain until the late afternoon when a triple rainbow appeared in the sky. It was magical.
On Wednesday morning, the sun came out and we quickly made our way out of the city (there was nothing to do there anyway, we were told). We drove east on fairly good tarred roads until we reached Roma, where the University of Lesotho is based. Come to find out, it was an outpost of South African freedom fighters during the 1970s and 80s. Desmond Tutu was the parish priest and Thabo Mbeki was at the University, among others. We stayed at a gem of a place – The Trading Post – which had been since 1905 and still is an actual trading post. It was absolutely lovely with English-style gardens and buildings, in an “Out-of-Africa” sort of way. We soaked up what to us seemed so opulent, and lounged around for a good part of the day. Russ handwashed the clothes, which he is really good at and I am eternally grateful.
When we did venture out to try and find the gravesite of King Moshoeshoe I, reality hit us with a roadblock. We have come across half a dozen roadblocks in the past few months; only one officer had previously noticed that Russ’ drivers’ license had expired. We noticed this back in October while in Gabs, but nothing could be done (Botswana license took too long to get, International license impossible). The traffic officer noticed the date immediately and started with a show of “we have to take you to prison, take you to Maseru, R1500 fine”, and so on. We asked if we could pay the “fine” on the spot, which was probably the intention. He asked for R600, but Russ only had R200 (USD 35) which was accepted immediately. I think we got off easy, but it means I will be driving the rest of the way through Lesotho and much of the other countries. I don’t mind driving and we have shared the responsibility in the past, but it makes for longer days to do all the driving all the time. I guess we will probably look at shorter routes. We watched the sappy Four Weddings and a Funeral in the evening and slept well. This place felt like home. We are completely into traveling mode now and our schedules have adjusted to sleeping in and eating our meals later than we would normally.
With another five days of sun predicted, on Thursday we headed into the mountains toward Ramabanta, the second trading post owned by the Thorn family. This is when the road situation changed dramatically. Not only did we start tremendous climbs of four to five thousand feet, the roads were narrow and full of potholes. And these were not even the marked four-wheel-drive roads which we did not attempt. The adrenalin rush for the day was crossing a causeway with a foot of fast-moving water with a six foot drop. Normally, we would never consider it but smaller two-wheel-drive vehicles and large top-heavy trucks were making it without problem, so Russ got up the courage to get us across. The Rav4 did not disappoint, although we both nearly pee’d our pants in the process. And then we made it across again a few days later on our return. The unbelievably spectacular landscapes while driving these tough roads made the driving totally worthwhile. It is no wonder Lesotho is called the Roof of Africa. Being on the Roof has its advantages – we were able to tune into BBC World Service which was an unexpected treat.
Ramabanta Trading Post was as beautiful as her sister in Roma, and the scenery was truly breathtaking as small thatched stone huts and scores of sheep, goats, ponies, and cattle dotted the mountainous terrain. The grounds were equally as lovely with manicured lawns and flowers. Again, we had the place mostly to ourselves – it seems as though January is the off-season and with the unusual rain, we absolutely believe that. On Friday, we set out for a day trip to Semonkong, the place of smoke, where the highest waterfall in southern Africa - Maletsuyane - is found. It was the worst road we had ever been on ever; rarely did we get out of low gear as we ascended and descended over 6000 feet. It took seven hours for the 100 kilometer roundtrip but it was also one of those rare places in the world not many people see because of the difficulty in getting there. Russ did all the driving (no chance of roadblocks), and I think he enjoyed the challenge.
The stars in Ramabanta were tremendously bright. No one has electricity out here, although the lodge did run the generator for a few hours every evening. When we woke up, as we usually do at 3:00 am, to go outside for awhile and marvel at the night sky with numerous constellations took my breath away. Also because of the altitude, the air was quite clear and cool.
Yesterday was our day to just stay put, to not be in the car, to wander around, to read and relax. We did walk into town and had a beer with another guy staying here – a Brit lecturing at the University in Roma. It was a good vibe. Amazing how inexpensive the beer was, given the distance it needs to travel to get here. Every single thing you buy in Lesotho, absolutely everything, is imported from South Africa, and that remains a startling fact. Another thing that surprised us - in the middle of nowhere, you guessed it – a China shop. According to our lecturer friend who has been here over twenty years, the Chinese have really infiltrated the country (Having never been to China, we thought the landscape resembled parts of rural China with its terraced slopes).
Thankfully, we picked up some vegetables while still in South Africa last week as there were very few here (potatoes and onions do not count). As we have found on past travels, our cooking on the road gets pretty creative. Last night we had lamb biryani flavored textured vegetable protein with lentils and cauliflower. It was pretty tasty, I must admit. Tuna pesto is also a well-worn favorite. The key is to find foods that do not need refrigeration which was not available in Ramabanta, which sadly also means the boxed milk to which I have resigned myself. Milk should really always be cold and with a short shelf life. An aha moment - I found that combining salted peanuts and sweetened cranberries (sent over with our shipping) together tastes just like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Mmmm…
We managed to leave behind yet another item - a headlamp - so we are really on a roll with not keeping track of our stuff, just eleven days into the trip.
Today we headed back through Roma to the lowlands and Masero where we spent the night. We found an internet cafe open for a half hour more and so are sending the stories we wrote over the past week. We will start our trek to the Drakensburg mountains tomorrow. Life is good!
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