NEWSLETTER NUMBER 238
15 December 2015
Lesotho Circular Road Trip
New Tar Route + Gravel Road
Qacha’s Nek – Sani Pass
Lesotho
18 + September 2015
The one new road that opens up a whole new area of Lesotho Mountains, is the tarred road from Qacha’s Nek to Semonkong. The scenery is incredible, the road outstanding, however be warned, the road cuts through old established villages and in order to control traffic speed through the villages, there are incredibly big speed humps. Hit these at speed at your peril. Why rush anyway, there is so much to see. This is the same for the road from Butha-Butha to Sani.
First night was spent at the Semonkong Lodge. The next day was a self guided hike day to the Maletsunyane Falls , the highest single drop falls in the Southern Africa, and also boasts – (Guinness Book of World Records) the highest abseil in the world. ( As a school boy , a group of a School Master from Kearsney College - Hillcrest, and 2 students, and a School Master from Glenwood High - Durban and 2 students hiked from Sekake Trading Store some distance from Qacha’s Nek to the Maletsunyane Falls, then on to the little known Ketane Falls, then back to Sekake Trading Store. A hike of then 120 miles over 9 days of walking, I was fortunate to be one of that group)
On the way back from the falls, there was the monthly Horse Races just up the hill, so time was spent “at the races”. Semonkong is the local business centre for the area, so we passed a lot of people on their way to the village to do their business.
Pics 3 – 5 On the way to the falls.
Pics 6 – 8 The Falls and associated great valley.
Pic – 9 Well contoured fields
Pics 10 – 12 The races
The next part of the trip was just up the road to Roma, where the Roma Trading Post, was the our base for the next period.
Pics 13 – 14 A large family dwelling on the hillside
Pics 15 – 17 Roma Trading Post accommodation
There is a lot to see and do in this area. Visiting the Thaba Bosiu area we visited a rock art site with the local guide, then climbed the steep path to the top of the Thaba Bosiu Mountain, the birthplace of the Basuto people under King Morena Moshoeshoe 1st.
Pic - 18 The hill that inspired the shape of the typical Lesotho grass hats.
Pics 19 – 25 Thaba Bosui
Pic 19 – The new entrance pillars
Pic s – 24 – 25 The views from the top of the Rock Fortress.
The next day a visit was made to the top of a Sandstone Mountain with a guide - where ancient Dinosaurs’ footprints were fossilized into the rock. Unfortunately the area is well trodden by locals as it is a grazing and wood collecting area, so they will disappear one day.
Pics 26 – 29 Dinosaur’s footprints and views
On the way back, we passed an area of sandstone that was used as a quarry to mine the sandstone blocks and shape the stone into building blocks.
Pic 30 – 32 The quarry
Later a drive up the tar road to Maseru to get more food stocks and fuel.
The drive from just out of Roma to Mohale Dam was on a very good gravel road that was well kept. Another scenic drive that needs a slow drive to appreciate the beauty around you. Arriving at the Mohale Hotel Resort, a cup of coffee was enjoyed, a quick look around as the dam is hard to see, however the wall is quite spectacular..
Pics 33 – 37 Mohale Dam area.
From Mohale we travelled on good gravel road (car friendly) to Katse Dam. where we overnighted. The next morning was a guided tour through the tunnels and structure of the huge concrete wall of the dam. A most interesting morning. After lunch a walk around the dam edge below the hotel was most interesting. The sheer sides of the islands, and old river bank gave a clear indication of the steepness of the valley, and how far down the dam was from it’s normal full level. A large Trout feeding farm could be seen far away in the water. Trout feeding / growing is big business on the dam. The sunsets and sunrises were quite spectacular.
Pics - 38 – 40 Mohale Lodge and dam wall
Pic 41 - Steep sided dam shoreline
Pic 42 – Trout farm – private property – no entry to it.
Pic 43 – 44 Sunset and Sunrise
There is a gravel road from Mohale across the mountains to Mokhotlong, however as the road is very bad and being worked on we were advised not to use that road. So the route was now to drive from Mohale to Butha-Butha, then down to Mokhotlong and onto Sani Pass. It is tar all the way, incredible mountain passes, wonderful scenery, great speed humps, so the way is to go slow and enjoy.
Pics 45 – 48 on the way to Sani
Afriski, the Snow Ski company in Lesotho, are building a huge new Sports and Recreation area in the mountains. It will cater for all year round sports from winter skiing, to summer mountain biking, hiking, horse trails etc.
Pic 49 – 50 New Afriski Resort under construction.
The Letseng Diamond mine appeared around a corner, a huge mining complex . then on to Mokhotlong for fuel ( Lesotho fuel is much cheaper than S.A fuel. Further on we passed the last of the Chinese Road Building rock crushers. Then at the top of Black Mountain, the last works were being done to complete the tarring of the entire route. While waiting our turn to pass the construction site, a great view down the valley to Hodgson’s Peaks and the S.A border .
Pics 51 – 55 To the top of Black Mountain Pass.
The plan was to get through the border that afternoon, however our slower driving to enjoy the fantastic trip had put us a bit behind time, and we arrived later than expected at the Sani Border Post. So the night was spent at Sani Stone Lodge.
At the border next morning, a long string of motor cyclists on a bike trip into Lesotho were passing through the Border Post. Finishing the paper work, the long, slow, painful trip down Sani Pass was tackled. There were a huge number of vehicles going up the pass, which made the going very slow indeed.
It was a great trip, the new roads certainly have opened up Lesotho to the normal non 4x4 vehicles.
