What a day! I am lying in bed in a hut in Lesotho with the rain pouring down and a paraffin lamp for light. We had left Glengarry at about 09H00 this morning on the next leg of our travels. The manager at Glengarry had suggested we take the back road towards Sani pass as the scenery was more spectacular. We took his advice and were not disappointed. The road was good and the mountains beautiful and green with a waterfall here and there.
We wanted to find a place that sold medicine as Lesley was getting very chesty and she wanted some Vicks, so we headed for Underberg and found an OK Bazaars that stocked it. After filling up with fuel we turned off on the Sani pass road. They are busy tarring the road so for a while it was nice and new and then suddenly it turns into a bad gravel road. It stayed bad until the South African border post where we had our passports stamped. And then the road got worse and the scenery got more amazing. From the border post to the top it is 8km of real challenging road. Lesley says it is not a road but terrain. I started off in 4 wheel drive high range but eventually had to resort to low range. The road has been damaged even more after the last rains and they are still repairing it. We hopped around some of the corners near the top, as there were huge stones on the corners, and at one of them could not make it around in one go as the turning circle of the Colt is not that good. Near the top, which is the worst part, to my astonishment, a Toyota Hi-ace taxi filled with people, came around the corner going down the pass. I had to stop and ask the driver if it was four wheel drive and he assured me it was.
Eventually we got to the top and headed for the Lesotho border post building where we paid R30 vehicle fee and had our passports stamped. Tick off another country. Then it was off to the highest pub in Africa where Lesley had soup and I had a beer.
It was another 48km to our overnight place which is called St James lodge. It took us 2 hours to get here because the roads are really, really bad. I don’t think these roads have ever been graded since they were built. I must admit I never expected them to be this bad. It is very tiring having to concentrate for so long as a lot of the time the roads are mountain passes.
We met some missionaries at the lodge who advised against taking the road to Katse Dam as it was in very bad condition. There were some other travelers at the lodge who also decided not to go that route as they had a trailer.
L: Arriving at the ‘lodge’ was a bit of a shock. My first clue should have been that of the dozen people I was the only female. Our rondawel had two single beds, two side tables and two paraffin lamps. No lock on the door. Our bathroom/outhouse has no lock on the door(getting the pattern), no hot water. Later on we discovered that our hut leaked water onto the bed and the slats of the bed were broken.
S: The communal lounge and kitchen were very well equipped however and the fire made it very warm and comfortable.
L: We being from Cape Town, Steve devised a plan to lock our door by taking a piece of rope and attached it to the door handle and the roof beam so that the handle could not be turned.
We made cowboy stew from leftovers and went to bed early as it was cold and pouring with rain.
Scenery on the way to Sani pass
Waterfall along Sani pass road
Last and most difficult part of Sani pass
View from the top
Glad to be at the top
St James Lodge rondawels
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