Snapshots from Lesotho.

Lesotho is a country landlocked inside South Africa. It was once Basutoland, a British protectorate since Queen Victoria agreed to keep it from the Boers and independent from Britain, other than having Marmite in the shops, since 1966. It is one eighth the size of Oregon with a GDP half that of Bend, OR. Its main employer is the garment industry that services the usual global brands with cheap labour and its largest natural resources are diamonds and water.

We saw none of this of course as we crossed the country’s primitive rural backwaters on a ride from Sani Pass on the east side in the Drakensberg Mountains to Butha-Buthe in the north-west across another range – the Maluti Mountains. Along the way we got a glimpse at the part of the country that is not seeing benefits from Wal-Mart employment or diamonds or running water.

The road from Sani Pass is being rebuilt completely by the low-cost bidder – China. We saw miles and miles of blasting and manhandling of rocks – every vehicle registered in China, with Chinese supervisors and Lesotho hard labour. The kids were running along a section of new road for what looked like school Physical Education class – all happy to be let loose but most without shoes.

The road from Mokhotlong to Tsaba-Tseka is listed as a “Fair Weather” road. It is certainly untouched by Chinese road builders and is either your worst driving nightmare or the most exciting and challenging BMW GS experience in your life – or both. We made it without any bikes being dropped but the overall journey took 8 hours for 200 Km. What a blast!!!

The huge majority of the housing we saw consisted of the traditional thatched roundhouses. Many of them now have shiny corrugated tin outhouses with vents that connect to the pit below – I am sure this is a huge public health improvement and the only innovation that distinguishes the houses from those made centuries before. The chap cleaning a sheep’s head in the river before cooking was in the river here.

Every Lesotho adult was wearing a traditional blanket as their principal garment – all sorts of designs and styles but everywhere a blanket, The horsemen here are modeling very typical garb and I have no idea if the different designs signify any kind of rank or status or just style and wealth points.

Finally we were totally awed by the scenery and grandeur of these huge river valleys between magnificent mountains. It is stupendously beautiful and every hill and pass revealed another more breathtaking vista. The one panorama here shows our road as a thin scar across the right side overlooking the river valley below.

One more comment about water. Every map of Lesotho we found to be hopelessly inaccurate. The one shown here hanging on the wall of the hotel shows the road we took perfectly but shows it going through a reservoir that does not yet exist – because the Mashai Dam has not yet been built. I hope someone tells the people living there that they are going to be getting running water pretty soon – but not the kind they wanted.