Tags
So dear friends, as promised more of last years trip through Lesotho to Coffee Bay (Eastern Cape).
As mentioned we left Fourisburg on the 21st in the morning and drove through the Golden Gate Highland Nature Park towards Phuthaditjhaba the last town in South Africa before you enter Lesotho at Ha Molisana.
Phuthadijhaba is a funny place, especially after you came through the Golden Gate Highland Park. All over sudden there is large town surrounded by mountains.
Nothing spectacular to see however the bottle store (off license) is worth a mention.
There you are in a town which is very rural but modern with a decent size shopping center. As we entered the store we immediately noticed how clean and stocked the place is. Very odd if you consider it was a long weekend and in Gauteng, South Africa the stores are more empty early in the morning.
So we got a little something something for the road and on check out I noticed the showcase with all kinds of very expensive Whiskies. I asked the shop attendend who in name’s sake would by a bottle of 30 yr Chivas for R4500,00 out here.
The reply was sweet and simple: The local chief and businessmen. I sold 6 bottles on Friday!.
Well cheers Phutaditjhaba I say to that. Good taste in Whisky you guys have up here.
We entered Lesotho via Ha Molisana surprisingly quick for an African border post.
Hehe flirting with the Customs Lady help as well to get my visa quicker.
Once in Lesotho the road was as follows: B161 from Ha Molisana for 70 km down and then turn left onto the A1. Easy!
Right, the B161 is a narrow dirt road with plenty of potholes winding its way down the Drakensberg.
The most enjoyable part is that you will see a good number of villages and kids, lots of kids as there where X-mas holidays.
Lesotho’s national children sport is to run next to the road and scream on top of your voice: Sweeetiiiees, Sweetiiiiees and holding your hand out.
As you can see, you need to look very serious when playing the national sweety sport
Yes and it doesn’t matter if you are sitting with your Gogo in the Maizefield, you still scream sweety
A drive which we thought will take us 2 hours turned out to be more around 4 hours due to the road conditions and of course the unbelievable nature and people you meet along the way.
We could see that Lesotho got a lot of rain the past few days, the little rivers on top of the mountains were full and strong, eroding a lot of land away, making living conditions pretty rough for the local population.
Neverless, Lesotho is and absolute jewel if you take your time, ever-changing colors of green and browns,the mountains all around you and the road an adventure on its own.
But hey, we got a nice big 4×4 pick up with plenty of space on the inside and listening to the tunes of Manuchau.
Believe me trips like these in cars which are not only comfortable but also perfect for the road is a huge plus point.
The beautiful view is more worth than a week in a 5* deluxe hotel, but guys make no mistake, this picture is taken high up,
At Ha Marakabei we reached the turn off to the A1 and the dirt road adventure was over, still good. Now it was time to get some kilometers behind us, as we still had god 250 km to go as we wanted to reach Sani Pass the same day.
So the African Adventure will continue soon with our adventure to the Highest Pub in Africa