Last night was rather special. While the fire was burning for a braai the choir and band came to perform again. We were a bit busy during the choir performance but were able to sit down and watch the band. They use homemade guitars and drums and one of the guys plays something I have never seen before. It is a tin with a pole attached which has a string stretched between the two and he uses a short stick with a piece of string, like a violin bow, to play it.
After the band had finished their repertoire Lesley asked them to play Happy Birthday for me which they duly did.
It is the 5th of April today and we think especially of Arthur and Doreen Haddow who celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary – Congratulations.
Today we are also leaving Lesotho and to make the most of it decided to take the dusty back roads to get out. We discovered a whole different part of the mountain area with pine forests everywhere and the most spectacular views on some of the passes. The area did not seem very populated except for a taxi here and there weaving across the road to avoid the huge potholes and ruts in the road. It seems the only vehicles on these back roads are taxis and busses.
We finally left Lesotho at Maholes Hoek and entered SA on a gravel road with about 45km to go to get to Zastron. We were planning to stay over at a place called Badfontein near Aliwal North but had not actually booked. We drove over the Orange River bridge which is a single lane now as the bridge has been damaged. The one lane is cordoned off but there is no sign of any repairs yet.
The Orange river is actually brown as it is in flood. We stopped off at a pub and grill just after the bridge for lunch and post the blog. We thought we were back in the 80s with steak, egg and chips for only R30 and a 500ml pot of coffee for R12. Beat that. We were deliberating about whether we should try and find space at the local warm water baths and a couple near us told us to avoid it as there have been bodies found floating in the baths. We decided to head straight to Badfontein.
22 km further on and 5 gates later we arrived at Badfontein guest farm which is right on the Orange river. It is a bush camp but has hot water and electricity and we were the only campers. And when they say bush they mean bush. A little way away they have a lapa at a sulphur water swimming pool. The pool is mostly natural rock. It has a smell to it and bubbles keep popping up from the bottom. It was a little green and greasy but was a welcome relief after the hot weather.
We had a braai and saw an amazing sunset over the Orange river.
Band's drummer at Malealea
On the way out
Oops, thats a tight squeeze
Amazing landscape
Sulphur pool at Badfontein
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