Places to Visit in Lesotho

Lesotho offers a wide variety of natural and historic attractions to visitors. Hiker-friendly Bokong Nature Reserve is a high-altitude sanctuary best-known for the 60m-high Lepaqoa Falls, which often freeze in winter to form a column of ice. Ha Baroana is a 2,000-year-old rock art site dominated by polychrome depictions of elands and hunters. The unique Ha Kome Cave Dwelling consists of five inhabited adobe huts built in a deep natural overhang back in the 1820s. An engineering marvel, Katse Dam, the centerpiece of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, is overlooked by a lovely botanical garden that houses 500 plant species.

Lesotho’s largest natural freshwater body, the remote Lake Letsie is a scenic Alpine wetland that offers great birdwatching. The historic small town of Leribe is home to the highly regarded Leribe Craft Centre and the 200-million-year-old Subeng Dinosaur Footprints. Liphofung is a dramatic rock overhang known for its prehistoric rock art and historical association with King Moshoeshoe I.

Chilled out Malealea is a popular base for pony trekking, mountain biking and community-based tourist activities. The spectacular 192-metre Maletsunyane Waterfall is one of Africa’s tallest waterfalls and the site of the world’s longest commercial abseil. Mount Moorosi is the site of an important 19th century battlefield overlooking the Senqu (Orange) River. Quthing is known for its Dinosaur Footprints and the Masitise Cave House, a unique dwelling built by a French missionary in 1866. An excellent base for exploring western Lesotho, the capital Maseru is a low-rise city graced by the country’s best selection of hotels, restaurants and other such amenities.

An important component in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, Mohale Dam is reached by a dramatic 100km road that traverses three major mountain passes. One of Lesotho’s prettiest towns, Morija houses Lesotho’s first French Protestant mission, as well as the kingdom’s two oldest extant buildings, and the Morija Museum and Archives. The highest of Southern Africa’s only two ski resorts, Afriski operates offers skiing during midwinter (June to August) and activities such as mountain biking and hiking at other times. Roma, set below a striking sandstone escarpment, is home to the country’s oldest Catholic mission and the leafy campus of the National University of Lesotho. Perched at 2,874 metres, Sani Top offers wonderful hiking opportunities (including Thabana Ntlenyana, Southern Africa’s highest mountain) and is the setting for Africa’s highest pub. The remote Sehlabathebe National Park is a hiker-friendly UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its spectacular rock formations and abundant prehistoric rock art.

Teya-Teyaneng, the handicraft capital of Lesotho, houses a clutch of craft cooperatives aimed at the upliftment of local women. The historic heart of the Sotho Kingdom, Thaba Bosiu is a near-impregnable sandstone plateau that served as the military stronghold of King Moshoeshoe I. The superb but little-visited Tsatsane Bushman Paintings include a massive eland portrait and a detailed depiction of a San rainmaking ceremony. Ts’ehlanyane National Park is known for its rugged montane vistas, floral diversity and network of hiking and horseback trails emanating from the five-star Maliba Lodge.

Ha Baroana
One of the most impressive rock art sites in Lesotho, ancient Ha Baroana adorns a massive sandstone overhang flanking the Liphiring River near the village of Matela some 40km east of Maseru. Ha Baroana translates as Home of Bushman, and the rock art there, as with most other such sites in Lesotho, is attributed to the San or Bushmen hunter-gatherers who inhabited the region prior to the foundation of the Sotho Kingdom in the early 19th century.

As is so often the case in Southern Africa, the art at Ha Baroana is dominated by polychrome depictions of the eland, which is the world’s largest antelope, and was held sacred by the shamanic artists. Other figures include a herd of smaller, more streamlined antelope (most likely hartebeest or blesbok), a peculiar leopard-like predator, a circle of dancers, and an unusually well-preserved all-black hunter running with spear in hand.

Estimated to be up to 2,000 years old, the surviving paintings at Ha Baroana are now quite faded and spread patchily across the shelter’s tall decurved 70-metre long sandstone wall. Take your time, however, and it is surprising just how many different figures gradually reveal themselves as your eyes become accustomed to seeking them out amidst the rock’s natural colour variations and grains. Even so, the surviving rock art at Ha Baroana would represent a tiny fraction of the paintings that must once have adorned this vast this open-air gallery, and one can only imagine how impressive and beautiful the site must have been in its prehistoric prime.

The 15-minute walk from Ha Baroana’s modern Visitors’ Centre to the rock art site is a scenic delight, descending steeply into a gorgeous river valley and then crossing two footbridges before it emerges into the forested stretch of riverbank that shelters the paintings.

Ha Kome Cave Dwellings
The tall, deep rock overhangs that characterise the highlands of Lesotho have provided shelter to humans since time immemorial. In prehistoric times, these spacious natural refuges are where San (Bushman) families would huddle together around a fire to eat and exchange stories, while their shamans performed mysterious trance rituals and adorned the walls with colourful rock paintings. More recently, the caves of the highlands have offered sanctuary to many a blanketed Basotho shepherd and his livestock on a cold winter night.

The cave dwelling tradition of Lesotho reaches its modern apotheosis at Ha Kome, some 60km northeast of Maseru. Here, a cluster of five beautifully constructed igloo-like huts is set entirely within a deep natural overhang, their smooth and curvaceous adobe exteriors reminiscent more of the adobe architecture of Mali’s Bandiagara Escarpment than of anything else in you’ll see Southern Africa.

Still inhabited by a few fourth-generation descendants of its founders, the cave village at Ha Kome reputedly dates back to 1824, when it served as a hideout for Basia and Bataung clans from the Eastern Cape during the same Difaqane Wars that prompted King Moshoeshoe to retreat to the fortresslike heights of Thaba Bosiu.

A few vestigial pock paintings dating to an earlier San (Bushmen) occupation can also be seen in the cattle kraal at the far end of the overhang. The tall trees that shelter the entrance to this far side of the cave were reputedly planted as protection from lightning when the ancestors of the present-day inhabitants arrived there almost 200 years ago.

Katse Dam
One of the most ambitious engineering projects ever undertaken in South Africa, Katse is the continent’s second-largest double-curvature arch dam. Some 710-metres long and 185-metres high, it impounds a deep, squiggly, multi-tendrilled reservoir that extends back more than 30km along the Malibamat’so River when full and has a total surface area of 38.5 square kilometres.

Reputedly named after a wealthy local farmer, Katse was constructed in the early 1990s as the centrepiece of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). Water from Katse is funnelled through an 82km underground tunnel into the Ash River near Clarens, South Africa, from where it flows along a succession of natural waterways into the Vaal Dam, the main reservoir in the industrialised and densely populated South African province of Gauteng.

Visitors coming on the A25 from Maseru will pass the tunnel’s intake tower to their left as they cross the reservoir on Mphorosane Bridge near Ha Lejone, some 30km before reaching the dam itself. Also visible from the bridge is a cluster of circular fish farms that produces the trout for which Lesotho is famed.

Informative guided tours of the dam wall and boat trips onto the reservoir can be arranged at the helpful LHWP Visitors’ Centre, which stands right above the dam and has an interior designed to mimic it.

A highlight of a visit to the dam is the Katse Botanical Garden, which was established in 1995 as a sanctuary for Afro-Alpine flora rescued from land soon to be submerged by the reservoir. Reputed to be the highest botanical garden in the southern hemisphere, the garden stands at an altitude of 2,230 metres adjacent to Katse village and it extends across 17 hectares of terraced slopes crisscrossed with well-maintained footpaths.

The garden protects more than 500 indigenous plant species, including various proteas, aloes, lilies and red-hot pokers, all adapted to with stand harsh winters that often bring heavy snowfall. The more interesting species are clearly labelled. Particularly prominent is the spectacular orange-flowered spiral aloe, which is the national flower of Lesotho, and totally unmistakable thanks to the neat spiral rosette formed by its whorl of fleshy grey-green leaves. Look out too for the pink-blooming Lesotho lily, the bizarre pineapple flower, and the snake aloe with its unique sinuous footlong inflorescence.

The garden has a lovely location and it is also a magnet for decorous birds such as the Cape and southern masked weavers whose neat oval nests adorn naturally-occurring stands of ouhout trees, and the brilliant iridescent malachite sunbirds that flit between flowers in search of fresh nectar.

Leribe
A green but busy little town, Leribe stands on the banks of the Hlotse River close to the South African border northeast of Maseru, and is the administrative centre of the district of that name.

Founded in 1876 by the British missionary John Widdicombe, Leribe was fortified four years later, during the so-called Gun War, when a group of Basotho chiefs rose up against the Cape colonial administration to reassert their right to bear arms. The quaint Major Bell’s Tower, a circular two-storey thatch-and-sandstone building on the main street through town, is a relic of this war. The nearby District Administration Office, a handsome sandstone building with a wide balcony and ornate tin roof, also dates to the late 19th century.

A well-known landmark, Leribe Craft Centre is the outlet for a philanthropic Anglican Church project that is widely regarded to produce the Lesotho’s finest mohair products. The centre has its roots in a program established in 1911 by the Sisters of the Holy Name to train young Basotho women to spin and weave mohair, a superior wool-like fabric made from the hair of Angora goats. The project now employs several physically disabled and deaf women to spin, weave and knit a varied selection of 100% mohair products including table mats, ponchos, shoulder bags, scarves, tapestries and cushion covers.

Situated close to the A1 about 4km north of Leribe, Subeng Dinosaur Footprints, embedded in a sandstone slab in a small stream, ranks among the most important sites of its type in the country. Discovered in 1955, Subeng incorporates the footprints of at least three and possibly as many as six different species of dinosaur, some with five toes on their feet, and others with three. Look carefully and you will also see fossilised worm trails and mud cracks on other slabs in the riverbed.

Malealea
Possibly the most popular travel destination in Lesotho, Malealea is a relaxed and peaceful village set at a relatively moderate altitude of 2,000 metres in the western highlands south of Maseru. Reached via the spectacular Gate to Paradise Pass, it is renowned as a base for pony trekking, but other attractions range from hiking and mountain biking to community tours and excursions to see ancient Bushman paintings.

In travel terms, Malealea is all but inseparable from the eco-friendly and community-orientated lodge with which it shares a name. Converted from a local trading post founded by a British settler in 1905, Malealea Lodge opened in its current guise back in 1986, and it has been owned and managed by the same hands-on family ever since. Today it runs almost entirely on solar power, and most excursions on offer are operated and guided by local villagers.

Malealea Lodge is best known for as a pony trekking centre. Excursions range from a three-hour sortie suited to beginner riders, through to a variety of multi-night treks through the breathtaking highlands that separate Malealea from Semonkong, 50km to the east. Overnight treks provide a fully immersive cultural experience, as trekkers get to sleep in traditional Basotho Huts or camp in remote highland villages, and have the opportunity to explore otherwise inaccessible waterfalls, natural rock pools, caves, Bushman painting sites and so on.

Bikers can explore the surrounding countryside on mountain bikes, which are hired out by the hours. The hiking opportunities are practically limitless, and also include visits to waterfalls, rock pools and rock art sites within day walking distance of the lodge.

Another popular activity at Malealea is a guided community tour taking in the small village museum, a visit to a local chief, a traditional sorghum-beer brewery, and an optional local-style lunch. In addition, one of two local bands – Malealea Band and Sotho Sound – performs traditional “family style” music on iconic homemade instruments on the garden every evening before dinner.

And if this all sounds a little exhausting to less active travellers, fret not – Malealea’s large leafy grounds and wide verandas are ideal for chilling out over a coffee or beer.

Maseru
Flanked by the Caledon River as it flows along the border with South Africa, Maseru is not only the capital of Lesotho, but also the kingdom’s largest city, and the main port of entry for those arriving by air or by road from the west. Relatively low-lying at around 1,600 metres above sea level, Maseru has a pleasant temperate climate, and it experiences less harsh winters than the majestic highlands to its east. The city’s seSotho name alludes to the red sandstone escarpments that dominate the surrounding countryside, as showcased in such evocatively shaped natural outcrops as the Lion’s Head and Lancer’s Gap, as well as Mount Qiloane, a striking conical protuberance that inspired the design of the traditional Basotho mokorotlo straw hat.

Maseru ranks among the older towns in the Southern African interior. It was founded by the British in 1869 as the administrative centre of what was then the newly acquired colony of Basutoland. Following the death of King Moshoeshoe I in 1870, Maseru quickly outgrew the old royal capital at nearby Thaba Bosiu to become the most important market town and business centre in the kingdom, a role it retains to this day.

The compact and manageable city centre, easily explored on foot, is studded with charming sandstone edifices dating from the earliest days. These include the former Resident Commissioner’s House, an imposing Roman Catholic Cathedral, a more modest disused Anglican church, and an adjacent cluster of buildings that now houses the Alliance Française and associated Ooh La La garden cafe.

Another famous central landmark is the thatch-roofed Mokorotlo Building, which is designed to resemble the traditional Basotho Hat for which it is named. This striking building now houses a craft shop showcasing the work of the highly regarded Lesotho Handicraft Cooperative.

An excellent selection of modern hotels and guesthouses, international restaurants, and well-equipped shopping malls make Maseru a useful base for exploring the many attractions that garnish the surrounding countryside. Popular day tripping destinations include King Moshoeshoe I’s 19th-century mountaintop capital at Thaba Bosiu, the compelling prehistoric rock art site of Ha Baroana, the unique Ha Kome Cave Dwellings, the handicraft cooperatives in Teya-Teyaneng, the Subeng Dinosaur Footprints near Leribe, and the historic mission towns of Morija and Roma.

Mohale Dam
The tallest rock-fill concrete-face dam anywhere in Africa, Mohale lies almost 100km east of Maseru along a dramatic road that traverses a sequence of three major mountain passes as it ascends into the majestic central highlands.

The 700-metre-long, 145-metre-high dam was built over 2002-4 to impound the Senqunyane River, an important tributary of the Senqu (Orange), below its confluence with the Likalaneng. Part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, it was designed to divert water via a 32km-long subterranean tunnel to the more northeasterly Katse Dam, which in turn supplies water to Gauteng, the highly industrialised and densely populated South African province that incorporates Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Although it is of great interest to engineers, Mohale attracts more casual visitors for its lovely setting among steep-sided mountains and the opportunity to explore the reservoir’s multi-tendrilled upper reaches on motorboat excursions that also take in the dam wall and the entrance to the underground tunnel to Katse.

As much of an attraction as the dam itself, the asphalted A3 from Maseru ranks as one of the country’s most scenic roads. It traverses a series of majestic slopes swathed in tussocked heathers and mane-like tufts of moseea thatching grass as it switchbacks through a trio of evocatively named mountain passes: the 2,263-metre Bushman’s Pass, the 2,281 Molimo Nthuse (‘God Help Me’) Pass and the 2,633m Thaba Putsoa (‘Blue Mountain’) Pass.

Morija and Matsieng
Historic Morija, one of Lesotho’s oldest and prettiest towns, is nestled on well-wooded slopes overlooked by the spectacular sandstone escarpment of Mount Makhoarane, 45km south of Maseru.

Named after the Biblical Mount Moriah, Morija houses Lesotho’s first and oldest French Protestant mission, established in 1833 by Thomas Arbousset, Eugene Casalis and Constant Gosselin of the Paris Evangelical Mission Society (PEMS). The mission incorporates the kingdom’s two oldest standing buildings, both of which survived a destructive fire set during the First Basotho-Boer War of 1858. These are the modest stone-and-thatch house constructed by the Swiss missionary François Maeder in 1843, and the more imposing tall-spired redbrick Lesotho Evangelical Church constructed by the PEMS over 1847-57.

In the early colonial era, Morija was nicknamed Selibeng sa Thuto (Well-Spring of Learning), due to the important role it played in providing education to the Sotho elite. The town’s scholastic reputation was cemented in 1956, when the Morija Museum and Archives (MMA) was established to store and display various ethnographic, geological and fossil collections made by missionaries in the 19th century. Now housed in a conspicuous yellow building, the MMA also incorporates Lesotho’s most important historical archive, containing a wealth of documents and other material dating back to the 1860s, along with a book shop and a small terrace café.

Other important landmarks include a sandstone post office built in 1884 and the Morija Printing Press, which has occupied several different premises since it published the first edition of the pioneering Leselinyana la Lesotho (“Little Light of Lesotho”) newspaper back in 1863. Altogether more contemporary in feel, Morija Arts Centre is a rootsy cooperative whose members display their paintings, pottery, tapestries and other artworks in a funky arts and craft shop set in the old François Maeder House.

Matsieng, 7km to the east of Morija, has served as the home of the Sotho monarchy ever since Letsie I succeeded his father Moshoeshoe I as king in 1870. Now graced by a trio of modern country palaces built for Moshoeshoe II and Letsie III, Matsieng is also home to the Royal Archives, Museum and Information Resource Centre, which offers guided tours that include a short but bracing walk uphill to the ruins of the original stone palace built by Letsie I.

A popular walk short from Morija, usually taking around 30 minutes in either direction, leads to a fossil set of three-toed dinosaur footprints first discovered by missionaries in 1881. This intriguing site is known locally as Nonyana ea Makhoarane (Bird of Makhoarane) due to the footprints’ resemblance to giant avian tracks. The walk up the slopes of Mount Makhoarane can also be rewarding for living birds. Look out for bokmakierie, ground woodpecker and Cape rock thrush on the rocks, and various water-associated species on the small tree-fringed reservoir you pass en route.

Mount Moorosi
Straddling the A4 between Quthing and Qacha’s Nek, the sprawling small town of Mount Moorosi boasts a spectacular setting overlooking the Senqu (Orange) River at the base of a towering rocky pinnacle called Mokotjomela.

The town is named after a somewhat smaller mountain on the east side of the A4 some 2km to its north. This is where the Baphuthi chief Moorosi, a former ally of King Moshoeshoe I, constructed the fortified mountaintop bolthole to where he and at least 1,500 followers retreated in March 1879 following a dispute with the Cape Government over the payment of hut taxes. Following an eight-month siege, Moorosi Mountain was finally captured in November 1879 by the Cape Mounted Yeomanry, who bombarded the fortress for four days before storming the summit. Moorosi was killed together with all of his wives, all but one of his children, and at least 200 followers. The chief’s decapitated head was then boiled and stripped to the bone before being left on display as a cruel warning to other potential dissenters against British rule.

One of the most important battlefields in Lesotho, Moorosi Mountain is quite easily reached on foot from the main road and you can still see a few stone slabs where the British soldiers engraved their names. A prominent memorial to 40 British soldiers killed in battle stands opposite Mount Moorosi Chalets some 6km out of town alongside the road to Lake Letsie.

Another prominent relict of British military presence in this most southerly part of Lesotho is Fort Hartley, a solid sandstone construction that dates to 1900 and has a superb location overlooking the Senqu River 25km back along the A4 to Quthing.

Oxbow
Climbing into the rugged high Maluti close to the border with South Africa, the recently surfaced stretch of the A1 nicknamed the ‘Roof of Africa’ is one of the few places in the region to receive regular winter snowfalls. It also houses the highest of Southern Africa’s only two ski resorts.

The highest surfaced road in southern Africa peaks at a breathtaking 3,222m at Mahlasela Pass, almost 100km east of Leribe and a similar distance north of Mokhotlong. It is a bleakly beautiful area of treeless Afroalpine moorland where windswept tussocks of heather are interspersed with ancient boulders and traversed by blanketed Sotho herders huddled on the back of Basotho ponies.

Perched at an altitude of 3,050 metres on the eastern descent from Mahlasela Pass, Afriski Mountain Resort is one of only two ski destinations in the whole of sub-equatorial Africa.

Afriski operates as a ski resort only during the midwinter months of June to August, when it attracts a steady stream of devoted and aspirant skiers from Johannesburg, only a half-day drive to the north. The resort accommodates up to 250 people and comprises one full kilometre-long ski slope as well as a beginner’s slope, along with two ski lifts.

Outside of ski season, Afriski offers a varied selection of other adventure and outdoor activities. These include mountain biking, 4×4 trails, hiking, paintball, and high-altitude training camps for runners, cyclists and other athletes.

For those who are not interested in skiing, but just want to experience the winter snow, a great alternative to Afriski is Oxbow, where the relaxed New Oxbow Lodge stands on a pretty montane riverbank some 15km back towards Hlotse.

Quthing
Administrative capital of Lesotho’s southernmost district, Quthing is relatively large hillside settlement split between a bustling commercial lower town and more sedate and green residential upper town. Also known as Moyeni (‘Place of Wind’), it was established in 1877 on the south bank of the Silver Spruit shortly before its confluence with the Senqu (Orange) River as it flows towards the border with South Africa.

The town’s main tourist attraction is the Quthing Dinosaur Footprints, which are clearly signposted about 1km along the A4 northeast to Mount Moorosi. Protected in a simple shelter, the site comprises a 200-million-year-old sandstone slab indented with several series of tracks attributed to a bipedal two-metre-long ornithischian dinosaur known as Lesothosauraus, which had three toes on each foot and an omnivorous diet.

The intriguing Masitise Cave House, built in 1866 by the French missionary DF Ellenberger, is a three-room brick-front home built into a deep overhang below an aloe-studded rock outcrop five kilometres west of Quthing. Now a museum, it includes some interesting displays on San rock art and the early days of Quthing and the mission, which is still operational today. Other features of the cave house include a freshwater pool fed by a natural spring, a 200-million-year-old negative dinosaur footprint in the ceiling, and the carved rock bench where Ellenberger held a historic meeting with Governor Philip Wodehouse of the Cape Colony in 1869, one that helped persuade the latter to treat the Quthing area as part of protectorate that eventually become Lesotho. The spring water from the cave feeds an extensive hillside forest of indigenous trees supplemented by a few exotics reputedly planted by Ellenberger. Birdlife is plentiful.

Quthing is the closest large town to Mount Moorosi, which lies 40km to the northeast along a scenic stretch of the A4 that offers some grandstand views over the spectacular Senqu River Gorge, and it is also a viable base for a day trip to beautiful Lake Letsie and the superb Tsatsane Valley Bushman Paintings.

Roma
Set in a fertile valley hemmed in by tall sandstone cliffs, the relatively large town of Roma is, as its name suggests, the site of the country’s oldest Catholic mission, founded by Father Joseph Gérard in 1862.

Situated on the southern outskirts of town, the Roma Mission is dominated by a massive sandstone church that dates to the late 19th century. The church incorporates the tomb of Father Joseph Gérard, who served at Roma until his death in 1914, and also of Archbishop Emmanuel Mabathoana, a great-grandson of Moshoeshoe I who was consecrated as the first Archbishop of Maseru and Metropolitan of Basutoland in 1961.

Roma is an important centre of learning. The town centre is dominated by the leafy campus of the National University of Lesotho, which started life in 1945 as a Catholic University College, was secularised in 1965, and has since grown to become the kingdom’s premier institute of higher education. Roma is also home to two highly regarded gender-segregated Catholic schools, the male-only Christ the King High and its female counterpart Saint Mary’s High, and the Roma College of Nursing, which offers diplomas in nursing and midwifery.

The local focal point of tourist activity in Roma is Roma Trading Post, which started life in 1903 as a small shop founded by John Thorn and is still in the same family more than a century later. In addition to offering accommodation and restaurant facilities, Roma Trading Point can arrange a variety of guided or self-guided pony treks, hikes and mountain bike excursions into the surrounding hills.

Sani Top
Situated at the 2,874-metre summit of southern Africa’s most famous and challenging road pass, Sani Top makes a fabulous introduction to Lesotho. Here you’ll find thrilling mountain scenery, wonderful hiking opportunities, down-to-earth cultural tours and world-class birding complemented by log fires, tasty glühwein and hearty home-style cooking at Africa’s highest pub.

Climbing from the South African town of Underberg, unsurfaced Sani Pass has long been fetished by South African 4×4 enthusiasts, and it gained more recent international exposure in an episode of Top Gear shot in South Africa and Lesotho. It’s a truly spine-tingling ascent, navigating a seemingly endless succession of switchbacks that pass through increasingly beautiful scenery as the road gains altitude. It is incredible to think that this rough and rocky road is the only motorable pass to breach the otherwise impregnable 200km-long uKhahlamba-Drakensberg escarpment that forms the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal.

Once at the summit, Sani Top boasts a bleakly beautiful Afroalpine setting and sensational views back over burnished cliffs and multiple switchbacks to the distant Drakensberg foothills. Popular attractions with day trippers are an informative cultural tour to a traditional village of stone-and-thatch Basotho huts 6km along the road to Mokhotlong, and a hearty lunch with a view at Sani Mountain Lodge, which houses the highest pub in Africa.

For overnight visitors, two of the many possible hikes out of Sani Top stand out. Peak-baggers tend to opt for the nine-hour round hike or horseback trip to Thabana Ntlenyana (literally ‘Beautiful little mountain’), whose 3,482-metre summit is not merely the tallest peak in Lesotho, but the highest point anywhere in Africa south of Kilimanjaro. An equally beautiful but less demanding four- to five-hour round hike leads to Hodgson’s Peaks, a formation that tops the 3,200-metre contour and is notable for a very photogenic rock window.

Roberts Bird Guide, the ‘bible’ for local birdwatchers, rates the cross-border site comprising Sani Pass and Sani Top to be ‘one of the top ten birding spots in southern Africa’. Afroalpine specials readily seen in and around the summit include southern bald ibis, Drakensberg rockjumper, sickle-winged chat, sentinel rock-thrush and Drakensberg siskin, while malachite sunbird flit decorously between the flowering red-hotel pokers that brighten the grounds of Sani Mountain Lodge. Look out, too, for Sloggett’s ice rat, a large endemic burrowing rodent with the endearing squirrel-like habit of sitting upright and raising its forelimbs to its mouth.

Traditionally, Sani Top tends to be viewed as an end-of-the-road destination offering day visitors from KwaZulu-Natal a short sweet taster of what Lesotho has to offer. However, the recent surfacing of the once infamous road that connects it to Mokhotlong and Maseru means that Sani Top now also forms an excellent gateway to the rest of this magical mountain kingdom.

Semonkong
Situated in the Thaba Putsoa (‘Blue Mountains’) about 115km southeast of Maseru, Semonkong (‘Place of Smoke’) is a small highland town whose name alludes to the spectacular cloud of spray thrown up by the nearby Maletsunyane Waterfall when it’s in full flow.

Possibly the single best-known natural feature in Lesotho, Maletsunyane is one of Africa’s tallest single-drop waterfalls, plummeting a full 192 metres over a sheer basaltic ledge into a narrow gorge hemmed in by steep green slopes and sandstone cliffs. In addition to throwing up a dramatic misty plume during the height of the rainy season, the plunging water creates a loud reverberation claimed by local legend to be the wailing cry of the souls of those who have drowned there.

Tourist activity around Thaba Putsoa centres on Semonkong Lodge, which boasts an attractive rural location on the leafy banks of the Maletsunyane River within easy walking distance of the main viewpoint over the waterfall. The surrounding area offers some great hiking and pony trekking opportunities, most notably the steep footpath that leads to the base of the gorge below the falls.

Semonkong Lodge operates the world’s longest commercial single-drop abseil, a thrilling 204-metre descent alongside Maletsunyane Falls, offering sensational views through the spray over the gorge below. Though not an activity for the faint of heart, no experience is required as advance training is given to all abseilers on a smaller cliff close to the lodge.

More sedately, the Maletsunyane River also offers some superb fly-fishing opportunities. The stretch above the falls was stocked with brown trout in the 1950s and specimens weighing 5kg are regularly snagged. Below the waterfall, the stretch of river above its confluence with the Senqu (Orange) also contains brown trout along with trophy-sized rainbow trout and yellow fish.

Teya-Teyaneng
Founded in 1886 by King Moshoeshoe I’s son Chief Gabasheane Masupha, Teya-Teyaneng is a bustling market town flanked by a pair of sandy shapeshifting tributaries of the Caledon alluded to in its tongue-twisting name (literally ‘Place of Moving Sand’, and often abbreviated to TY).

Locally, Teya-Teyaneng is probably best known as the sporting powerhouse that spawned Lioli Football Club, a four-time winner of the Lesotho Premier League since 2009, and as the birthplace of former Prime Minister Dr. Ntsu Mokhehle. For tourists, Teya-Teyaneng is renowned as the handicraft capital of Lesotho, housing as it does a clutch of excellent craft cooperatives aimed at the upliftment of local women.

Coming from Maseru, the first cooperative you’ll encounter, set in rolling fields below a golden sandstone escarpment, is Lesotho Mountain Crafts, whose motto Hatooa Mose Mosali loosely translates as ‘Women Step Up and Work Hard’. Lesotho Mountain Crafts specialises in wool and mohair products such as ponchos, scarves, balaclavas, tapestries. It also produces a distinctively Sotho range of cute small dolls depicted carrying babies on their backs or baskets on their heads.

North of the town centre, Elelloang Basali (Be Aware of the Women) is another neat little corporative whose members produce an imaginative selection of well-crafted mohair tapestries as well as a variety of silk products. Elelloang Basali is set in an architecturally intriguing building made almost entirely from recycled soft drink and beer cans, painted red for cohesion on the outside, but with original labels clearly visible from inside the building.

Thaba-Bosiu
Thaba Bosiu lies at the historic and spiritual heart of the Sotho Kingdom. Rising to an altitude of 1,800m only 20km east of Maseru, this near-impregnable sandstone plateau served as the residence and military stronghold of Moshoeshoe I, the kingdom’s founding father, throughout most of his mid-19th century reign.

Oral tradition has it that Thaba Bosiu – literally ‘Mountain of Night’ – was so named by Moshoeshoe because he and his followers, who arrived there in the chilly midwinter of 1824, made the initial ascent to the plateau after dark. The name also alludes to the belief that the mountain grows taller at night, a legend propagated by Moshoeshoe to discourage his enemies from attempting a nocturnal siege.

Thaba Bosiu is rather low-lying by Lesotho’s lofty standards, but Moshoeshoe, who arrived there in the midst of the Difaqane Wars initiated by King Shaka of the Zulus, was quick to recognise its strengths as a natural fortress. The expansive flat-topped summit is protected on all sides by formidable sandstone cliffs, yet it is watered by half a dozen natural springs and was large enough to hold plenty of livestock and other provisions during an extended siege. As a result, though Thaba Bosiu was attacked on several occasions in the mid-19th century, by both African and European foes, it was never captured and would be abandoned in favour of Maseru only after Moshoeshoe’s death of natural causes in 1870.

Thaba Bosiu is steeped in history. From the Visitor’s Centre at the mountain’s base, a steep and gravelly footpath follows Khebelu Pass to the plateau, passing en route a plaque marking the spot where the Boer leader Louw Wepener (the only invader to ever get close to the summit) was shot dead by Moshoeshoe’s men on 18 August 1865.

On the plateau itself, Moshoeshoe’s partially restored royal compound comprises five rectangular and circular stone buildings constructed by a Scottish soldier called David Webber who took refuge there in 1839. A short distance away, the tomb of Moshoeshoe I is the centrepiece of a royal cemetery where all his successors, from King Letsie I (died 1891) to King Moshoeshoe II (died 1996) are buried along with various other Sotho royals and dignitaries.

The plateau also offers superb views in all directions, the most conspicuous landmark from the summit being Mount Qiloane, a conical sandstone pillar that stands about 1km to the east and whose distinctive shape reputedly inspired the design of the traditional Basotho mokorotlo straw hat.

Adjacent to the Visitor’s Centre at the mountain’s base, Thaba Bosiu Cultural Village is an architecturally innovative complex that provides a modern spin on traditional Sotho stone-and-thatch building techniques. In addition to a hotel and restaurant, it incorporates a replica Sotho village of traditional homesteads, and an informative museum dedicated to Moshoeshoe I and various aspects of traditional Sotho culture.

Tsatsane Bushman Paintings
Tucked away in the remote southeast of Lesotho, the scenic valleys carved by the Tsatsane and Sebapala rivers host some of the finest prehistoric rock art anywhere in Southern Africa. Other attractions include trout fishing and cliffside nesting colonies of Cape and beaded vulture.

The first rock art site you reach coming from Mount Moorosi is Ha Liphapang, where you are required to check in at the Tsatsane Valley community project office. The site here is easily reached on foot, though the crossing of the Sebapala River is potentially tricky when the water is high. Considered to be relatively modern (late 19th century), the fresco here incorporates a number of mysterious half-human, half-animal figures known as therianthropes, notably one large white figure with a rhebok-like head and small black horns.

The next site Motse Mocha is also easily accessed on foot, though again the river crossing could be problematic when it floods. This site is notable for incorporating several equine figures whose narrow striping and white belly clearly depict a Cape mountain zebra, suggesting either that the range of this localised species once extended far deeper into the eastern interior of Southern Africa than historical records indicate, or else that the artist hailed from further southwest.

About an hour’s walk or pony ride past Motse Mocha, passing the confluence of the Sebapala and tributary Tsatsane River, the remote village of Sekonyela stands opposite an outcrop containing two utterly superb rock art sites.

Sekonyela 2 is possibly the most mind-boggling site of its type anywhere in Lesotho, containing hundreds of individual figures, most in a fair to good state of preservation. The centrepiece, a portrait of an eland measuring more than two metres long and one metre high, is the largest known depiction of this antelope, which was held sacred by the Bushman artists. Other striking images depict a traditional healer laying hands on a patient, a party of travellers carrying luggage on their heads, and a menagerie that includes what appear to be an aardvark, a hyena, and a young cheetah.

Action-packed Sekonyela 1 comprises a single fresco of around 50 humans and therianthropes hunting, fighting and dancing around what could be a buffalo bull, or a hippo, or a mythic creature containing elements of both. It is the most detailed and well-preserved surviving depiction of a type of rainmaking ceremony described to anthropologists in the late 19th century by one of the region’s last living Bushmen.

Two important vulture colonies can be found in the vicinity of the Tsatsane Valley. Selomong, a massive sandstone outcrop overlooking the road from Mount Moorosi, hosts at least 20 breeding pairs of the endangered Cape vulture. A more remote breeding colony, some six hours walk upriver from Motse Mocha, also hosts several pairs of the very rare bearded vulture.