Getting there.......... on the road again!

In a fit of enthusiasm to show you the splendours of Lesotho, I seem to have jumped right in with photos from there, so today I will backtrack slightly and show a couple of images of the actual journey to get there.... again just scratching the surface, there is still SOOOOOOOO much to see, but here is a start, the fascinating variety of landscapes we drove through, with the road as a common factor in this series, .... and please excuse the odd bug splat and reflection, some were taken as we were driving along! One thing we decided at the start was that, wherever possible, we would avoid the main roads, and stick to backroads, and preferably ones we had not driven before.

The backroad to Alicedale winds through typical bush found in the southern inland region of the Eastern Cape.

We shared the road with an interesting selection of vehicles, animals and humans along the way! This Taxi is in the charming little village of Alicedale.

We also decided that the whole journey would be the holiday, and not just the destination, so we did not rush, and whenever we spotted something interesting we did a detour to check it out. Like this strange broken down structure just outside Alicedale. Old aquaduct?

Of course one of the things about some backroads is that you have to hop in and out to open farm gates, luckily at that stage I was driving (I ADORE long distance driving, especially on bad roads) and Max got to be official opener and closer! But he was happy, it took him back to his childhood on the farm, so we were both in our element! Some of the roads cut through Game Farms, so we were also able to do a bit of free gameviewing along the way!

We finally got to the delightful little village of Hogsback, up in the mountains, for our first night's stop. Lots more about that later, it's a magic place that deserves a few posts of its own!

Leaving Hogsback on the back road to Cathcart.....

we averaged about 20km per hour on this road, not because it was bad, but because it was so stunningly beautiful around each bend that we KEPT stopping for pictures!

This has to be the most amazing time of the year to travel these roads, with the interesting skies and fabulous autumn colours.

It got cloudier and colder as we approached Elliot, for our next night's stop, and we even spotted snow on the distant mountains, but we were chasing the rapidly sinking sun, and had to find accommodation for the night before dark, so there was no time to stop for pix.

The next day dawned cold and very overcast, by the time we got to the top of the Barkly Pass, we were right in the clouds....

After the Barkly pass, heading towards Barkly East, it got quite stormy, and was really cold, but that gave the landscape a great brooding look!


The landscape changed around every corner, from spectacular sandstone formations.........

........To rounded formations with bare white rock gleaming through the grasses. We had still not seen the snow from the previous night, so we assumed it was these white patches we has seen glinting in the last light.

but then we rounded another bend, and there it was, snow, YAY!

From there we were heading for the hills, through areas scattered with rural villages...

...with the anticipation growing as we approached the Mountain Kindom.......

Until finally, there it was ahead of us.... Tele Bridge border post, and a short drive into a different world!

to snow or not to snow, that is the question

I have a thing about snow, I love it. I love the blue shadows and the way red and green contrasts with it, and the magical quality it lends to landscapes. Ok, I know this is all very airy fairy because I don't have to face the daily reality of living with it and digging it and dressing accordingly.
I have only ever physically touched snow twice in my life, once when I was 14 and we went up the Sierra Nevada in Spain, and once when I was at University in Pietermaritzburg and it snowed nearby. A bunch of us piled into a friend's car and rushed up there, and played around like 5 year olds throwing it around. It was great!
So for me it is a romantic, fairytale substance.
Naturally, therefore, I have been hoping with every fibre of my being that it would snow while we were up in the mountains. However, the weather in Lesotho was bright and sunny and warm the whole time we were there.... Except on the last night, when it was FREEZING, and everyone said it was definitely going to snow. The next morning, as we were packing to leave, the air felt much warmer, and I remembered Jerry (he of "it's not far" fame) saying that if it is going to snow it gets warm first, and I just KNEW it was going to.... but we had to leave so Max could get back for work. 6 hours after we crossed the border it snowed, aaaaaaaaaarrggh!

Now Max, on the other hand, thinks snow is wet cold stuff that has no particular attraction, and is a real fair weather camper. So he was trying manfully to be sypathetic to my disappointment, whilst hiding his delight that we missed it!

However, we did see a little in the distance on the Barkly Pass as we crossed over, on our way to Lesotho. I was beside myself with excitement! Now Sheila and Michele and all of you who get REAL snow, please do not clutch yourselves and fall about laughing, but here it is, as good as it got, SNOW!

illuminating........

This sandstone formation was visible from the door of the little hut we stayed in at Mount Moorosi. It looked great when the first rays of the morning sun caught it.

Walking the Hills

“It’s not far”, our Basotho guide Jerry assured us. “It’s an easy climb.” Looking up at the imposing peak looming behind the little hut which we were staying in, we expressed grave misgivings about this statement.

We pointed out that while he was young and wiry, we were on the wrong side of 50, overweight and had both recently had surgery. (Max a quadruple bypass and me an arthroscopy on a knee joint which is missing most of its cartilage and will be needing a replacement soon.)

“No no” he promised. “It will be easy and we will go slowly”. With that assurance we set off to climb Mount Moorosi.

It is an important landmark in Southern Lesotho, scene of an historic siege and battle between the Tribe of Chief Moorosi on the one hand and the British on the other. Max is going to be writing about the battle in some detail so I will just say that it is indeed a fascinating and beautiful place and worthy of the exertion it takes to get up there.

Exertion is a slight understatement…. Suffice to say that it took a long time to get to the top, with a huge amount of unseemly huffing and grunting and snorting and wincing along the way. Frequent stops to “admire the view” were called for. But I assure you that Edmund Hilary, upon summiting Mount Everest, could not have felt a greater sense of achievement than these two old farts did on reaching the 1820m high top of Mount Moorosi!

“Right”, said Jerry enthusiastically, as we staggered to the base of the mountain. “Now let’s go and see some Bushman cave paintings”.
“Is it far?” we asked, naively. “No, no, it’s very close, we will drive there, and then take a short easy walk.”

So off we went, through the picturesque if somewhat chaotic little Village of Mount Moorosi. We wound our way through delightful scenes of stone huts perched on hillsides, cattle, angora goats, pigs, donkies and sheep roaming around accompanied by blanket clad herdsmen, and riders on the famous hardy little Basotho ponies, roadside traders selling all sorts of goods from little plastic and metal booths, and friendly people waving at us as we passed.

“Turn right here.” said Jerry. Max looked at him incredulously. “Is the whole road like this?” he asked, surveying the eroded gullies before us. “No no”, said Jerry, “it is not far.” Thus reassured, we set out, and since there was nowhere to turn around, we proceeded to take our little low slung 2 wheel drive Bantam bakkie over terrain that a Land Rover would be proud to traverse. (Tom, you would be in your element here!)

We are told to stop, in the middle of a field of dried Sorghum, awaiting harvesting. “We must walk from here” says Jerry. Looking around at the expanse of tall brown plants, we see no sign of a path, or anything looking remotely like a cave that could contain rock art. However, like two trusting old sheep, we follow our guide through the field, and scramble up a rocky hillside that suddenly looms on the other side. Well, the cave must be here, we think hopefully to ourselves.

However, Jerry strides out in the direction of a forest of Eucalyptus trees that covers a steep slope down to the impressive Senqu river flowing in the distance below.

Upon inquiry, we are assured that it is just down there on the river bank. We follow gamely, but by now my knee feels as if red hot knitting needles are being plunged down my veins, and I am not a happy bunny. So I again enquire exactly where on the river bank it is, and Jerry points out a huge rocky bluff that is jutting out into the river, far below us. “It is around that”, he says. I have images of limping all the way down there, and then having to turn around and retrace agonized footsteps all the way back around the river side, and back up the daunting forested hillside to this point, and then still go back over the ground already covered, and I call a halt.

We had already covered all this distance to beyond the grove of trees and you can see the large bluff to the right...

If you look very closely you can see the tiny dot of the bakkie parked beyond the field of sorgum.

Spotting a fallen tree nearby, I announce that I am going this far and no further… I will sit on the tree and wait for Max and Jerry to get back. Off they go, Max gamely following his cheerful guide. I wait, and wait, all the while feeling growing relief that I stopped when I did, combined with growing concern for Max. Finally, they re-appear coming up through the trees from the river. I can spot Max a mile away because his face is a fluorescent red, glowing with exertion. He slumps speechlessly onto the fallen tree trunk and sucks vigorously on the bottle of water I hand him from the rucksack he left with me.

After a suitable period for recovery, we get back to the car. “Right”, says Jerry enthusiastically, “let’s go and see the graveyard of the British soldiers killed in the Battle of Mount Moorosi. It’s not far……” I know that this is something Max is really keen to do, as he is fascinated by the history of the place, so I don’t say anything, but my heart sinks. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear him tell Jerry that we would LOVE to go, but not today!

We return to our little hut, and Max is asleep before his head hits the pillow.

We did get to the graveyard the following morning, it turns out it was not far at all!! It was on the bottom of the hillside, right across the road from our hut.
the lone graveyard cypress marks the position of a mass grave for British soldiers who fell during the siege on Mount Moorosi.

As we travelled around the country, no matter how high we got into the mountains, there would be little huts perched in the most unlikely spots on remote peaks,

and herdsmen strolling up and down with their animals on slopes the seemed impossible to traverse.

the tiny white dots are goats being herded along the mountainside!

And it finally sunk in. If you are going anywhere with a Basotho guide, do NOT bother to ask how far or how easy it will be, because his sense of distance will be VERY different to yours!

(Lest you get the wrong impression, let me hasten to assure you that Jerry is a superb and patient guide, and a mine of fascinating information!)

We're Back..........

After a glorious week in the mountains, with no electricity or cell phone signals, we are back in the land of both (if somewhat intermittently in the case of electricity!!).

We took GIGS of photos.... Lesotho exceeded all our expectations as a stunning and fascinating place so we will be posting MANY pics in coming weeks...

But for now we are still on the road, so here's just a little something to whet your appetite, in the unspoilt Mountain Kingdom, the people are so friendly and delightful. They wear blankets all year round!