We decided to do the Sani Pass day trip on Friday. Our guide, Stephen, was a local and turned out to be a great guide. We started from the lodge and made our way to Lesotho via the pass in Stephen's 4 X 4. Sani Pass was established as a trader's route from the border of South Africa to Lesotho. Now it is a World Heritage site and a commonly traveled route from Lesotho into South Africa, even though it is a windy, steep and seemingly dangerous mountain road.
We saw numerous mini-bus taxi's taking Lesotho citizens to the South African border. The joke is that the taxi's are called "two more" because the driver's always say there is room for two more. The views were gorgeous and gave me the feeling of being an intruder in an undisturbed land. The tour included a stop in a temporary sheep herders village across the border into Lesotho. It was a temporary village because at that altitude it was very cold. About 20 people stayed behind during the winter, but in the summer more than 100 lived in the village. We met Mae who stayed behind to sell bread and beer to shepherds caring for their sheep. Mae allowed us into her home made of straw and a cement mixture of cow dung and water. Stephen told us stories about their resourcefulness and it was amazing to see how they lived.
I kept wondering what they must think of these strange people coming to their home everyday, speaking a strange language and taking pictures. In some ways it felt very strange and intrusive, but something I am glad they allowed us to do. Lesotho and the Sani Pass represented what I had envisioned of Africa - even if I only experienced it through the guise of a tourist. On the way back we stopped at the Sani Pass pub - the highest pub in Africa. It was fun and had some great views! The pictures below are the beautiful views we saw throughout the tour. More thumbnails ...
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