NEWSLETTER NUMBER 221
31 March 2015
Lesotho Trip
Sani to Mokhotlong & St James Mission Lodge
21 - 22 March 2015
On arriving at Underberg early in the morning, we were greeted by the always incredible view over the town , up to the top and to the south of the mighty Drakensberg, with the high points of the Giant’s Cup directly in front of us, and the little indent of the famous Sani Pass just showing to the right.
Once the tar road ended at the Sani Hotel , the dirt road leading up to the S.A Police border post, and ultimately up the pass, was to my mind “rather Rubbish”, but to the locals, fairly good!. The road showed lots of erosion, and near the top one could see that major erosion, and subsequently – some road fixing had been done. But, for how long?. Next heavy rains or snow melt, would start the “fixing program” all over again.
Pics - 2 – 6 The road up to Sani Top
Pic – 7 - A grim reminder of what not to do on the pass
Pics – 8 – 12 - Views from around the top of the pass
As we left the border post to head into Lesotho we came across the first of many flocks of sheep and Angora goats, the staple farming method of wool production up here. Looking back , we had a good view of the “back side” of the Giant’s Cup, or Hodgson’s Peaks
Pics - 13 and 14
I was warned that there was serious road works along the way, and to expect to be held up where road works was progressing. Well, we came upon huge amounts of road building in progress. Some parts of the road already tarred, and other parts still being blasted and huge earth and rock works under way. Our progress was slow at times, but we were never held up, and a our mission was to get to Mokhotlong, we did not hang around as we did not know what lay ahead in terms of road blockage that might stop us for considerable time.
Pics - 15 – 21 – along the way
Pics - 22 – 23 The Chinese have used empty containers that brought goods and plant to the site, to build living and work quarters for some of the workers on the road.
Well, we finally reached our destination – Mokhotlong!!!!! I can’t say what I expected, certainly not what we saw, somehow I expected something else of this long standing centre of trading and officialdom. So we moved on to look for our overnight refuge, and a late lunch place
Pic – 24 – Mokhotlong !!!!????
A very steep, rutted road led us down into a valley through which the Senque river flowed. The area alongside the river, and high up the slopes had been laid out in neat contoured lands. Years ago this high, cold and very harsh land had been the breadbasket of this southern part of Africa. All over Lesotho very old contoured lands lie unused and abandoned, once they were productive. Crossing the river, we climbed high up the other side of the valley, and eventually arrived at our destination.
St James Lodge is part St Jams Mission, a Roman Catholic Mission with a large schooling facility, that seems to have a fairly large boarding facility for it’s pupils. Our accommodation was a granite building a bit away from the main complex, that offered self catering facilities, 2 large bedrooms with 5 – 6 beds and toilet and shower on suite As well as 2 rondavels that shared toilet facilities. A comfortable communal kitchen, with dining room /lounge was part of the main building.
Pics 27 – 29 St James Lodge
From the lodge, we looked onto the greater complex of the mission station.
Pics – 30 – 34- Mission complex
On the way home we looked onto the front part of the housing and workshop facilities of the Chinese road workers. Looked neat and tidy, and it would have had great views of the valley directly below it.
Pics – 35 – 42 Along the way.
Pic – 37 – Shepherd on the step slopes.
Amazingly , as one drove along the road, shepherds were seen in the most incredible places, all looking after their flocks. A more hardy and lonely life in this wild, desolate and cold country, one could not imagine.
Pic – 43 – 44 - Another lonely sheepherder by his fire, high on top of a cliff.
To get back to the road building, what an amazing feat of work by the Chinese road builders. The country is wild, steep, broken, there is no infrastructure, everything has to be brought in through the ports of South Africa. The logistics of getting fuel, cement, steel reinforcing etc to keep the road building people at work must be a nightmare. The road is built to last, drainage works are incredible, hundreds of drains run under the road to keep the water away from the road bed. Retaining walls built of huge rock packed steel baskets hold back the banks. Huge reinforcing rods hold the road together, and the banks up. Most of the machinery is imported from China. All the vehicles seem to be running very well indeed. Numerous Chinese are on the job, all working, and most interesting of all, ALL the labourers working, none watching each other. Huge crushing machines grind rocks to gravel for the roads. Cement mixing plants produce a mixture of crushed rock and cement for the base of the road, then it is tarred. We had to stop for over an hour at one place as the business of laying the rock/cement mixture was taking place. Huge trucks brought in the mixture, and a machine laid the mixture evenly across the whole road, then it was compacted by 3 rollers. We had to squeeze off the road, and wait for the process to pass us, before we could carry on.
Pics – 45 – 53 Road building in operation.
NB – Pic – 50 Ancient and traditional vs Modern and state of the art.
As we were in no rush to get on , we had planned to hike up to Hodgson’s Peaks when we got to Sani , but the weather was hinting that it would not be wise to do this, we stopped here and there to look at the scenes around us.
Pic – 57 – Road drainage systems Pic – 58 – Looking down Black Eagle Pass Pic – 59 – 61 - Retaining walls Pic – 62 – 64 - Traditional ways Pic – 65 - Clouds billowing up from KZN and covering Hodgson’s Peaks Pic – 66 - A horse before the storm
Clearing the border post requirements we watched the vehicle ahead of us start it’s long trek down the pass to South Arica. Warwick did a quick check to see what it was like down the valley, looked good, so we let the handbrake go, and set off home.
Pics – 67 – 70 – ready to roll.
For those travelling in winter, go well prepared for any eventuality. Mother nature could hold you hostage in the most uncomfortable ways for who knows how long, she is MOTHER NATURE and SO UNPREDICTABLE.
