south africa and lesotho: sani pass and mokhotlong and oxbow

It took me nearly a full day to get from Himeville to my next destination. I got to the taxi rank in Underburg at 0700, hoping the public taxi would fill up quickly and depart soon. Unfortunately, this wasn't what happened. It didn't fill up until 1000. Thank goodness for my kindle! (I also updated my travel journal.)

This taxi drove around 20km down the road, to the bottom of Sani Pass. Everyone piled out of the taxi and queued up in front of a tin shack. I was at the back of the queue, as I had no idea what was going on.

When I got to the front of the queue, I wrote down my passport information and paid 150 Rand, though I don't know what it was for. Everyone else did it, I figured it was just part of the process of crossing this border.

As I was walking back to the vehicle, I realized everyone else had moved into another vehicle. I went to do the same thing, but was told there wasn't enough room. I went back to the first vehicle to wait with three others who didn't fit either. I was frustrated because I'd been the first one in the first vehicle, only to wait for three hours. I was so tired of waiting already.

Not too much later, another 4x4 vehicle came, and the four of us switched vehicles. Unfortunately, the four of us weren't nearly enough to fill it up, argh.

I ended up having to wait another two hours. I was soooo bored. If I'd known how long I had, I would've gotten out and gone for a walk. Since I didn't know (there was no schedule,) I had to stay put.

Finally, another vehicle came from Underburg. That bunch jumped out and did the same queue at the shack, then most of them came into our 4x4. I was sooo excited to finally be moving.

Not too much later, we stopped again. This was the official border exit of South Africa. I stood at the window and got myself stamped out of the country, then hopped back in the vehicle.

Sani Pass is a mountain pass. It's a steep road, with a whole lot of switchbacks going up/down the side of a mountain. The views looking down the valley were incredible. I wanted to take photos, but only got one. If I have a rental car when I return, I plan to stop a whole lot.

Since the road had so many switchbacks, we never got going very fast. Eventually we made it to the top. Not too far from the top of the pass was the border control building for Lesotho. They asked me how long I planned to stay, and since I didn't know the answer to that question I said two weeks.

While waiting for everyone else to do the same thing I bought bread from a lady selling loaves out of a bucket. Yummy, and cheap. Donkeys were wandering around the area as well.

The road into Lesotho was a whole lot better than the road had been for the first half of the trip, thank goodness. We were moving a whole lot faster.

Eventually, we arrived in the town of Mokhotlong. It's basically the biggest town in this area of Lesotho. Though that isn't saying much, as the population is still pretty small.

When I arrived, I had no idea where I was going to stay. I had nothing booked, and the guidebook didn't have a map of the town. It had a couple guesthouses listed, I figured I would find one of them, somehow.

This is when I got really lucky. I was the last person to get out of the taxi, and the driver asked where I was going. I was honest and said I didn't know, that I needed a place to stay for the night. He offered to take me somewhere, and I decided to trust him. He gave me a couple options, and I chose one. He drove me there, it ended up being just a couple blocks away. He found the manager, and I was good to go.

Who knows how long I would've wandered around without the kindness of this man.

I checked in, and realized it was actually cold here. Lesotho (pronounced Le-soo-too,) is sometimes called the Kingdom in the Sky, because much of the country is way up high. My room had a warm bed, and a heater, and I quickly realized there was no wifi, and my South African SIM card got no service. Argh.

I asked the manager about logistics for the next day: time for breakfast, transport options to get to my next destination, location of that transportation. She said she would find everything out, and get back to me.

While she was finding out information for me, I went for a walk. My walk wasn't very long, because it got dark pretty soon. I was pretty cold, and there wasn't much light in the area. Eventually I found a market of sorts, and was able to buy some snacks. I made my way back to my hotel, and found the manager. She told me everything she'd learned, we figured out when I would eat breakfast, and I went back to my room. My plan was to do some 'paperwork' related to traveling, and documenting my travels. As much as I would've liked to do some writing, my hands were freezing.

I then ended up turning out the lights at 8pm. It was cold, the TV only got one channel, and there was wifi. I slept well, even though I hadn't been very physically active the day before.

This was another hot breakfast, but I have to admit it wasn't nearly as good as the rest of the breakfasts I'd had during this trip. I don't like sausage, especially if there is no mustard, so I didn't eat that. The juice was warm, and believe me, warm orange juice isn't very appetizing. Neither is warm milk on my cornflakes. I did eat the bacon and fried eggs, though they were both cold. The beans were a decent temperature and flavour.

I got out the door, and it turned out the place to catch transport to my next stop was just a couple blocks up the road. Everyone stared at me when I climbed in, so I'm guessing it isn't common for a solo white female to be taking public transport in this area. I got there at 0700, we left at 0730. I had high hopes for a good day.

I arrived in a place called Oxbow at 10am, after a beautiful ride. There were so many times I wanted to ask the driver to stop so I could hop out and take photos of the stunning landscape.

Remember what I said about Lesotho being called the Kingdom in the Sky because of the mountains? Completely accurate. Absolutely gorgeous.

At one point we drove past/around a place called Afriski, which sounds and looked totally out of place. As far as I know, this is the only place to go skiing in Southern Africa. (I could be wrong on that.) There hadn't been much snow yet, so I could only see one run that was open. It was clearly man made snow, and the whole thing looked so out of place.

Not too much later, we passed the city sign saying we'd entered Oxbow. I didn't see any buildings, but wasn't too worried. A few minutes later the taxi pulled up in the parking lot of a lodge, and let me out.

Side note: I never did figure out if there was anything else in the 'town' of Oxbow. Surely there must be some requirements for having the designation? I didn't see anything except my lodge! I saw no houses, markets, petrol stations, etc...

I walked in, and asked if they had a room available. Fortunately, they did, as a bunch of rooms were checking out. It seemed they were pretty full. My room wasn't clean yet, but I was able to put the bag in the room and go out for the day. I suppose I could've been worried about security, but since I was generally in the middle of nowhere, my only other choice would've been hiking with my pack, which I didn't want to do.

I walked out with no real idea of what I could do, or where I could go. This ended up being one of the most amazing days I had during my entire trip. The scenery in this area is beyond lovely. I didn't find any specific hiking trails, but I did find a few trails used by shepherds. I followed a river for a while, which wasn't big, but was pretty.

At one point I tried to jump across the river where it was slightly frozen, but not frozen enough to stand on. I thought I'd made it, but didn't. Instead, I slipped and fell.

The fall itself wasn't bad, except for the small chunks I took out of the front of my lower left leg. Thank goodness there wasn't too much blood, though I knew immediately there would be some deep bruising, and I would have scars.

I climbed up a few random hills, and loved looking all the way around. I wish I'd had more time to go on more hikes in the area. The mountains were fantastic.

At one point I heard a lot of bells, and realized a shepherd was guiding sheep through the area. At another point I stumbled across a mostly frozen waterfall.

Absolutely beautiful. Cold of course, and I slipped again while trying to take photos on the ice at the bottom. Oh well, it was worth it.

7 hours after I walked out, I went back to the lodge. I don't think my hiking had taken me very far distancewise, but I was worn out. I sat in the living room area, close to the fire, which was kept well fed. The heat felt good. When I sat down and took a better look at my legs I realized my shoes were completely shot. They were torn, argh. I probably should've thrown them away then, but I needed them for the rest of my trip and hoped it could happen.

I ended up chatting for quite a while with a lady who was visiting with her family. She and her husband lived with their two sons near Kruger National Park in South Africa; they'd come to Lesotho to take their sons skiing for the first time. She told me of their plans to immigrate to New Zealand, as they were not happy with the safety and education systems in South Africa.

Eventually, it was time for dinner. The price of this lodge automatically included breakfast and dinner buffets for all guests. The dining room was in a different building, and when I got there I was surprised to see a lot more people. I think most of them were families who had been skiing all day.

Dinner was good. There was a lot of food, divided into sections. We all went through a queue for the hot food, choices included lamb, chicken, mince, tomato soup, and green beans. Cold foods included salad, jello, pudding, etc...

Hot drinks like tea and coffee, cold drinks like juice and milk. I was stuffed by the time I walked out.

The natural gas heater in my room did a great job. I turned the lights out just before the generator for the whole area was turned off at 2300.

I slept well, and woke up at the perfect tine. I got dressed, and went to breakfast, another buffet. I had poached eggs, (that didn't look very different from the fried eggs,) as well as bacon, cereal, tea, toast, fruit, and yogurt. I ended up eating with the family I'd met the day before. They were leaving that day as well, heading back to South Africa.

I packed up my stuff, then went out to the road to wait. No one knew how long I would have to wait, since the public taxis don't run on a schedule. This was the only road through the area, so this was the only option I had for moving on.

I think I'd been out there for about 20 minutes, when the family I'd met the day before started to pull out. They saw me there, asked how long I"d been there, and insisted I ride with them. They figured they could at least get me going in the right direction. I was extremely grateful, as I had no idea how long it would be for me otherwise.

We drove around mountains, waiting for sheep to cross the road a few times. We drove through farming areas, and saw some people plowing land by animal. We saw small waterfalls. We saw kids playing or farming. There were so many more times I thought about asking to stop for photos. It really is a gorgeous area of the world.

They took me to the next town, called Butha Buthe. They then drove to their border crossing, which I found the local taxi rank. I hopped in, and ended up waiting only about an hour. By this point, waiting for an hour is practically nothing to me.

Lesotho is beautiful, and I want to go back. It doesn't get many tourists, for a number of reasons. First, their economy is awful. Second, there is little to no infrastructure, especially tourist infrastructure.