It was Rachel's 40th birthday earlier this week and also Scotty's wedding. The girls managed to speak to Rachel, though I didn't. She's doing the MoonWalk in aid of Breast Cancer this weekend - hope that goes really well Rachel!
Liz and Roland have just left us after a week's visit that absolutely flew by. They were lucky with the weather overall and got out and about a lot. As well as a visit to Kirstenbosch and Robben Island, Neil and I took them wine tasting one day when the girls were at school,we all had fish and chips at Kalk Bay on Friday afternoon and we had a day trip to Cape Point at the weekend. As that day co-incided with Mother's Day in SA (May 8th), Liz even got to have a glass of pink fizz with her lunch. I think they had a good week, and we certainly enjoyed having them to stay. As well as getting stuck into hockey practice, Liz was even brave enough to have a swim in the pool - she may well be the last person to use it as autumn has finally arrived. Yesterday on the beach at Noordhoek was like the Northumberland coast - in winter. Three different shades of grey for the sky, sea and sand.
And so to our amazing trip to Lesotho and the Drakensburg a few weeks ago. The girls finished school on 22nd April for an Easter break that was extended to 10 full days holiday thanks to several public holidays (Freedom Day, Family Day and Workers Day – you’ve got to love a country that has more public holidays than there are months in the year. Three more coming up in May and June too).
We flew into Bloemfontein in the Free State on Easter Saturday, and were immediately struck by how much colder and damper it was than Cape Town. We knew we’d meet colder weather on this trip as Lesotho is the most mountainous country on earth, but hadn’t expected it quite so soon! After checking in at the Donald Russell Guest House we went for a walk to see what Bloem has to offer – not a lot as it turns out. We found a shopping centre to buy some supplies for Lesotho and a soggy park with very ancient play equip and a few obligatory street people. Decided to upgrade our experience and took a Nandos take away back to the B&B to eat whilst watching a bit of pre Royal Wedding fluff on SABC3.
On Easter Sunday morning we had a quick DIY breakfast before an Easter egg hunt in the grounds. Piled into our lovely bakkie (pronounced buckie, the universal name for big pick up truck style vehicles here), and hit the road out of South Africa. We reached the border at Maseru Bridge after about two hours, and sailed through the passport formalities. Instantly a ‘real Africa’ feel: seriously un-roadworthy minibuses, beaten up taxis and rusty trucks clogged the roads, hindered on their way by the cattle, goats and oxen that wandered the verges and ambled into the road itself. As it was a Sunday, Maseru the capital of Lesotho and equivalent in size to Newbury, was quiet but the Victoria Hotel was open for lunch. More or less as soon as we ordered, the power went out so lunch was cooked from scratch on a gas flame, meaning a long wait and a very dark trip to the candlelit loos. However the sun was shining and the local beer, Maluti, was cold and refreshing so we chilled and adapted to Africa time Lesotho-style.
After a pretty tasty lunch of fish and chicken we set off for Roma, Lesotho’s seat of learning and the site of the only university. We passed shepherds wearing the traditional Lesotho woollen blankets and tiny children herding sheep and goats. Roma was bathed in afternoon sunshine so we went for a walk around before finding our guest house for the night. I’d been expecting a pretty modest little town, but was still surprised to see just how basic it all was. Apart from the university and the Spazza (general store), there were almost no other brick buildings, just metals shacks, clay-built rondavels and roadside stalls serving as the high street. However the people we met were friendly and although we were obviously the subject of much curiosity we didn’t feel uncomfortable, as can be the case in SA.
Stayed overnight at The Trading Post in a self catering house. Built on a mini hostel basis with 4 large bedrooms, a kitchen and large sitting room, we had it to ourselves as no one else was staying that night. Despite being very faded, with frankly shabby bathrooms, it was clean and comfortable. There’s no TV up here, but there was a DVD player with an extensive library, so Neil and I lit a fire in the large grate and settled down to watch the Steve Biko hagiography ‘Cry Freedom’ when the girls were in bed. Fittingly the action includes an escape from SA into Lesotho.
On Monday morning a lady came in to cook breakfast for the four of us (!), a man wandered in with a large rifle under his arm and another came to clean out the fireplace. A fourth came in, apparently to watch a DVD. We packed up and left for a three hour drive to our next stop over, Malealea Lodge, south east of Maseru. We had very high hopes of Malealea, expecting it to be the highlight of the holiday, and so it proved. The drive included scaling the Gates of Paradise Pass, the first time we could really use the 4x4 capacity of the truck. Right at the top we met three young boys who chatted for a bit about school and their work and extracted a handful of sweets, some apples and 10 Maloti from us ‘for shoes.’ Very polite and grateful, so it was a pleasure to meet them.
At Gate of Paradise Pass
The height of eating out options in Roma: Dolly's Kitchen!
At Malealea, finally.
Malealea Lodge is a Lesotho institution, run by the same (white) family for years. It was originally a trading post in the middle of nowhere, and has evolved into a major (by BaSothan standards), holiday centre and hub of the village. It offers pony trekking, hiking, visits to the local school and into the villager’s homes. There’s a playground, games room, bar and restaurant, though all Libby and Lottie wanted to do was to hang around the ponies. They were made welcome and it really gave me a lump in my throat to watch my pony-mad girls standing silently communing with the patient beasts. We were shown to another huge two bedroom cottage with a big garden and stupendous views. With no mains electricity, the generator only provides enough for 5 hours a day from dusk to around 10pm. Then the bar closes and black night falls. It’s all necessarily basic, but we were given a gas fridge and a gas cooker so could keep up a supply of hot drinks and even fill our hot water bottles each night!
Careful Neil - you haven't got a seat belt, or an off button.....
That first afternoon we answered the girls’ prayers and took them out on a guided
pony trek to Pitseng Gorge. Neil and I decided to walk alongside and chat to Mafa, our knowledgeable local guide. We just beat the brewing storm home and snuggled up in our cottage to watch as the forked lightning illuminated the hills that surrounded us at every angle. Made a dash through the torrential rain to listen to the local choir and band in the games room. The band were particularly good, having made all their instruments themselves from old oil cans, bits of wood etc. They had guitars, a large drum, even something resembling a violin with just one string made from a piece of nylon that produced a remarkably rhythmical sound. And so home to Neil’s speciality supper – Pasta Surprise – the surprise being that it’s always the same. (Pasta, onions, a red pepper, tin of tomatoes, tin of sweetcorn, tin of tuna). Pretty yummy though for all its familiarity.
Just before bed time we went out to see the African night sky. Zero light pollution, just thousands and thousands and thousands of stars.
On Tuesday morning we were up early to get those ponies saddled up and ready to go. All four of us riding this time, with Mafa taking us to see the San art paintings in a remote cave a few hours ride away. Lottie was on Caramel , Libby on Sliding Door ( the weird result of translation, we assume), I was riding Waterfall and Neil was on the inappropriately named Eagle. Neil was amazing for someone who hasn’t ridden before and I think we both enjoyed it more than we expected. I had assumed the ponies would be quite mule-ish, but actually they are quite fine, pretty, and very sure footed. As we encountered some pretty steep slopes and ‘staircases’ built into the rock Mafa told us just to trust our ponies to pick their own way up and down – good advice!
At a rocky precipice above the caves we met a young local girl who took us the last half mile or so on foot, down into the ravine where the caves are. Where had she come from? Apart from shepherds, we’d seen no one for the last two hours, passed through no villages. Anyway, she spoke poor English but did show us Echo cave (which really worked), and the very faded rock paintings. She navigated the slope rapidly in ill-fitting flip flops, whilst we edged down in stout boots – what a difference.
Once again the weather was on our side. Back at camp we agreed to meet Mafa at 2 o’clock for a final ride, and headed to the communal dining room for a hearty lunch of spaghetti. Suddenly the rain that had been threatening all morning broke and hailstones pounded the tin roofs. Just as we were despairing of getting out again the clouds rolled away and the sun came out. Neil and I decided to quit whilst we were ahead and hike for the afternoon, but the girls were straight back on their ponies. Mafa took us on a tour of the village environs, through areas of common grazing, past the primary and secondary schools which are part funded by links with Irish and English schools, and along the main street past the tin shack hair salon and the booth that acts as the village phone box.
Malealea 'High Street' and a backyard loo belonging to a villager.
Our cottage at Malealea, and those amazing views.
Fording rivers in our trusty bakkie
On Wednesday morning we left Malealea reluctantly, knowing we had a full day’s travelling ahead before we would reach our next stop, Katse, the location of an astonishing engineering project that has dammed a river in the Maluti mountains and now supplies much needed water to SA and hydroelectricity (and investment) to parts of Lesotho. We drove through the mountains, over three spectacular mountain passes, including the fear-invoking ‘God Help Me’ pass. Thanks to the Highlands Water project, the last twenty years has seen a huge improvement to the road system in the remote interior of Lesotho, and much of the way was tarred. However from Thaba-Tseka it becomes a rutted dirt track, devoid of signs, and as we had by now lost the light, we were a quiet, fingers-crossed carload that finally staggered into Katse about 8pm.
On Thursday morning we were therefore surprised to see the village in the daylight – a complete anomaly of hundreds of suburban-style neat brick houses with little front yards, obviously built for the foreign dam construction workers. Once again, our self catering accommodation at the Katse Lodge was spacious, comfortable and above all cheap – we didn’t pay more than about £70 / night for the four of us anywhere in Lesotho. Checked out early and joined the 9am tour of the dam, including a visit inside and on top of the reservoir wall. To date only Phase 1 of a potential 5 phase project has been complete with the hope being that SA and Lesotho will sign the contract to begin Phase 2 this winter.
From Katse we set off on another long drive for our last stop in Lesotho, Mokhotlong, a little town that Lonely Planet describes as having a ‘wild west frontier town feel’ in the south east of the country. This time we had two options, the ‘safe’ but lengthy road through Leribe and Buthe-Butha or the cross country route that would slash the miles but was an unknown quantity. Neil was keen to put his 4WD car (and skills) to the test, so guess what – we (he) chose the latter option. With a very vague map, no signs and no towns en route we knew it would be an adventure. And what a drive it was! From Lejone we took a track that snaked up and over mountains, through rivers, along narrow ledges where the road had been damaged by frost and rain, and up impossible looking slopes to the diamond mine at Kao. Thanks to the helpful security guards at the mine we found the right road again (but sadly no diamonds) and made it to Mokhotlong in half the time the standard route would have taken. We regularly ran into small flocks of sheep and goats, cattle and donkeys, and enjoyed spectacular scenery and cloudless skies. It was extremely cold though, with small waterfalls of ice decorating the roadside at every turn. One of the interesting things about the trip was observing the commitment to education of the Lesotho government. Very regularly we passed battered little buildings with a sign proudly announcing this or that primary school, even when there didn’t appear to be a community living anywhere nearby. We passed hordes of children returning from school, walking miles along the roadside. Lottie and Libby were appalled at the age of some of the younger children walking home alone. ‘Where are their mums? Why doesn’t someone collect them?’
Contemplating the drive down from the highest pub in Africa
Mokhotlong was everything it promised to be, bustling and chaotic, but especially basic. We managed to find a cold and drab dining room still serving and ate a late lunch / early of supper of packet soup and grey looking burgers. As our hotel room was also drab and cold we wrapped everyone up in our newly acquired blankets and had an early night.
Opening the door the next morning was like being on a skiing holiday – brilliant blue sky, bitter cold, thick frost. We ‘enjoyed’ the hotel breakfast of powdered orange juice, powdered egg and powdered instant coffee, redeemed by slabs of thick sweet doughy home made bread. Headed off to the border back into SA at Sani Top, a bumpy journey on a poor road but easy-peasy in the truck we’d all fallen in love with. We arrived at the Sani Top Chalet, reputedly the highest pub in Africa, in time for morning coffee and got chatting to the landlord who was listening to the Royal Wedding commentary on a battered transistor, this being another electricity-free zone. We took our coffee and hot chocolate outside on the balcony and looked at the Sani Pass snaking down the mountain before us for more than 8kms – the only way back into SA from here. This is a route only passable by 4x4 high clearance vehicles and it looked absolutely terrifying with hairpin bends and ridiculous cambers. I retreated inside in time to hear Kate Middleton say ‘I do’ and by this time we decided we might as well stay at the pub for lunch – anything to delay the journey down. Definitely a good decision, as we enjoyed the best meal of the holiday, sharing steaming plates of hot smoked local trout and chicken curry, mopped up with a loaf of home made bread from the tiny kitchen. Finally we had to leave, but first the border formalities. Neil had to wake the snoozing customs official to get our passports stamped and then we inched slowly down the mountain, occasionally feeling the wheels slipping beneath us on the loose stones and grit. It took almost 45 minutes to descend and I felt enormous relief as we reached the bottom and crossed back into the relative civilisation of SA (good roads for a start) and a 10 degree climb in temperatures.
The beautiful Drakensberg
Luxurious Fairways
An easy 90 minutes later and we arrived at Fairways, our luxury lodge in the southern Drakensberg. It was wonderful to have three nights of really super accommodation with every mod con to end the holiday. And so we spent our last two full days making the most of the beautiful autumn weather by hiking in the stunning Drakensberg, swimming in freezing river pools, playing mini golf, and undoing all our good work by eating the world’s biggest pizzas at the on-site restaurant. Although it’s very unlike the typical Africa we see on TV, Neil and I agreed that the Drakensberg is probably our favourite place in SA. It’s an overwhelming feast for the eyes, with the most wonderful scenery. Think the English Lake District on steroids – taller mountains, brighter green grass, clearer mountain pools, blue, blue sky and hot sunshine even in autumn. It was a treat for us to see the trees changing colour as Cape Town is full of palms and pine so there’s little seasonal change.
Come on Neil - it's only -10 or so in here!
Restoring lost calories with the biggest pizza ever!
And so back to Cape Town from Durban, having had a holiday and a set of experiences that will remain with us for a very long time. Lesotho is one of the poorest countries on earth with almost no development outside of Maseru. It’s not a relaxing holiday destination (we had the Drakensberg for that), with basic facilities on offer. But the people are friendly, the skies clear, the mountains spectacular and the family memories we generated are priceless.
Fording rivers in our trusty bakkie
On Wednesday morning we left Malealea reluctantly, knowing we had a full day’s travelling ahead before we would reach our next stop, Katse, the location of an astonishing engineering project that has dammed a river in the Maluti mountains and now supplies much needed water to SA and hydroelectricity (and investment) to parts of Lesotho. We drove through the mountains, over three spectacular mountain passes, including the fear-invoking ‘God Help Me’ pass. Thanks to the Highlands Water project, the last twenty years has seen a huge improvement to the road system in the remote interior of Lesotho, and much of the way was tarred. However from Thaba-Tseka it becomes a rutted dirt track, devoid of signs, and as we had by now lost the light, we were a quiet, fingers-crossed carload that finally staggered into Katse about 8pm.
On Thursday morning we were therefore surprised to see the village in the daylight – a complete anomaly of hundreds of suburban-style neat brick houses with little front yards, obviously built for the foreign dam construction workers. Once again, our self catering accommodation at the Katse Lodge was spacious, comfortable and above all cheap – we didn’t pay more than about £70 / night for the four of us anywhere in Lesotho. Checked out early and joined the 9am tour of the dam, including a visit inside and on top of the reservoir wall. To date only Phase 1 of a potential 5 phase project has been complete with the hope being that SA and Lesotho will sign the contract to begin Phase 2 this winter.
From Katse we set off on another long drive for our last stop in Lesotho, Mokhotlong, a little town that Lonely Planet describes as having a ‘wild west frontier town feel’ in the south east of the country. This time we had two options, the ‘safe’ but lengthy road through Leribe and Buthe-Butha or the cross country route that would slash the miles but was an unknown quantity. Neil was keen to put his 4WD car (and skills) to the test, so guess what – we (he) chose the latter option. With a very vague map, no signs and no towns en route we knew it would be an adventure. And what a drive it was! From Lejone we took a track that snaked up and over mountains, through rivers, along narrow ledges where the road had been damaged by frost and rain, and up impossible looking slopes to the diamond mine at Kao. Thanks to the helpful security guards at the mine we found the right road again (but sadly no diamonds) and made it to Mokhotlong in half the time the standard route would have taken. We regularly ran into small flocks of sheep and goats, cattle and donkeys, and enjoyed spectacular scenery and cloudless skies. It was extremely cold though, with small waterfalls of ice decorating the roadside at every turn. One of the interesting things about the trip was observing the commitment to education of the Lesotho government. Very regularly we passed battered little buildings with a sign proudly announcing this or that primary school, even when there didn’t appear to be a community living anywhere nearby. We passed hordes of children returning from school, walking miles along the roadside. Lottie and Libby were appalled at the age of some of the younger children walking home alone. ‘Where are their mums? Why doesn’t someone collect them?’
Contemplating the drive down from the highest pub in Africa
Mokhotlong was everything it promised to be, bustling and chaotic, but especially basic. We managed to find a cold and drab dining room still serving and ate a late lunch / early of supper of packet soup and grey looking burgers. As our hotel room was also drab and cold we wrapped everyone up in our newly acquired blankets and had an early night.
Opening the door the next morning was like being on a skiing holiday – brilliant blue sky, bitter cold, thick frost. We ‘enjoyed’ the hotel breakfast of powdered orange juice, powdered egg and powdered instant coffee, redeemed by slabs of thick sweet doughy home made bread. Headed off to the border back into SA at Sani Top, a bumpy journey on a poor road but easy-peasy in the truck we’d all fallen in love with. We arrived at the Sani Top Chalet, reputedly the highest pub in Africa, in time for morning coffee and got chatting to the landlord who was listening to the Royal Wedding commentary on a battered transistor, this being another electricity-free zone. We took our coffee and hot chocolate outside on the balcony and looked at the Sani Pass snaking down the mountain before us for more than 8kms – the only way back into SA from here. This is a route only passable by 4x4 high clearance vehicles and it looked absolutely terrifying with hairpin bends and ridiculous cambers. I retreated inside in time to hear Kate Middleton say ‘I do’ and by this time we decided we might as well stay at the pub for lunch – anything to delay the journey down. Definitely a good decision, as we enjoyed the best meal of the holiday, sharing steaming plates of hot smoked local trout and chicken curry, mopped up with a loaf of home made bread from the tiny kitchen. Finally we had to leave, but first the border formalities. Neil had to wake the snoozing customs official to get our passports stamped and then we inched slowly down the mountain, occasionally feeling the wheels slipping beneath us on the loose stones and grit. It took almost 45 minutes to descend and I felt enormous relief as we reached the bottom and crossed back into the relative civilisation of SA (good roads for a start) and a 10 degree climb in temperatures.
The beautiful Drakensberg
Luxurious Fairways
An easy 90 minutes later and we arrived at Fairways, our luxury lodge in the southern Drakensberg. It was wonderful to have three nights of really super accommodation with every mod con to end the holiday. And so we spent our last two full days making the most of the beautiful autumn weather by hiking in the stunning Drakensberg, swimming in freezing river pools, playing mini golf, and undoing all our good work by eating the world’s biggest pizzas at the on-site restaurant. Although it’s very unlike the typical Africa we see on TV, Neil and I agreed that the Drakensberg is probably our favourite place in SA. It’s an overwhelming feast for the eyes, with the most wonderful scenery. Think the English Lake District on steroids – taller mountains, brighter green grass, clearer mountain pools, blue, blue sky and hot sunshine even in autumn. It was a treat for us to see the trees changing colour as Cape Town is full of palms and pine so there’s little seasonal change.
Come on Neil - it's only -10 or so in here!
Restoring lost calories with the biggest pizza ever!And so back to Cape Town from Durban, having had a holiday and a set of experiences that will remain with us for a very long time. Lesotho is one of the poorest countries on earth with almost no development outside of Maseru. It’s not a relaxing holiday destination (we had the Drakensberg for that), with basic facilities on offer. But the people are friendly, the skies clear, the mountains spectacular and the family memories we generated are priceless.
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