Optional Activities: Pony Trekking Excursion, Hiking.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
11th December 2013
The Drive into Lesotho is an easy drive with no dramas crossing the border, in fact it was slightly amusing. On the South African side you queue for five minutes, get your passport scanned, get a cursory glance from the Immigration Officer, get a stamp and your on your merry way. On the Lesotho side of the border crossing there were hundreds of people standing in lines waiting to be processed, we got our immigration cards and dutifully filled them in. (standard stuff, nationality, reason for visit etc) We then joined the queue which I was at the very end of, this turned out to be a good thing as a lady wearing the Lesotho Immigration department uniform came out from out the back and sat at a desk next to me. She then suggested that I get my passport stamped by her, I did, gave her my immigration form and was on my way.
The drive into Malealea was all together a somewhat different experience, it's referred to as the African massage, basically you get bounced around and tossed from side to side alot in your chair. To keep myself amused I have been doing two things the first is when we hit a major bump / pothole I say "whoops there it is", it would appear that Lisa is over my "whoops there it is", however my two favourite doctors (Eva & Lina) still find it amusing, having said that I get the opportunity to say "whoops there it is" alot. The other activity is my daily exercises on Otis during our long drives, running on the spot, pretend skipping, chair pushups, leg checks and counters the good thing about all the bouncing around is that it helps with my balance
The other funny thing about the African Massage is that after about an hour the "good people" start doing the Meerkat. One person stands up in their allocated seat space and peers out the front window search for any sign of respite, that person is soon followed by other curious campers looking for the same respite. From the back of Otis were Lisa and I sit we have a great view of the Meerkats.
As we got close to our designated accommodation Owen started to pull Otis over to check out the mountain view, as Otis slowed the Meerkats all began standing, I wish I had the camera at the ready. At 2000 meters above sea level its high and the views are spectacular with clear sunny skies but windy and cold and I don't do cold.
As per normal we upgraded, camping / tenting holiday yeah right!!!
12th December 2013
At Maleala you probably couldn't get much more basic, there was brown, muddy looking running water. There was no electricity as such, all the electricity was supplied by a generator between 18:00 and 22:00 hours, as it turned out there was not enough power to charge my tablet....It's a strange concept and hard to get your head around 14 villages and 1 pretty well known tourist destination has no grid power.In the morning the team split into two groups, the pony trekkers and the hikers. The pony trekkers were headed out to see some San People rock art and then to the waterfall, from what we were told it would be about a 5 hour ride. Lisa checked out the saddles and decided against the pony trek.
The hikers were in for a long walk to the waterfalls, Lina (The Sun God) Mathew, Ulla & Hartwig, Lisa & me we had a guide however I've forgotten his name. The walk started off pleasant enough as we were walking down hill. After about 45 minutes we reached the valley floor, according to my watch we were at about 1600 meters above sea level. We had lots of water crossings which I thought were fun as it was a bit like my Kokoda trek, you cross the same river multiple times. I had no problems but the less agile and tentative had some issues.
After an hour or so we finally rounded a corner and saw a trickle of water falling from a reasonable height, I couldn't believe it I was thinking that Lesmurdie Falls are more impressive and I only need to walk about 3 minutes to see them. But we kept walking and the vista opened up to reveal a pretty impressive waterfall and the best part was a couple of local brothers began playing their home made instruments which they played for the entire time we were there.
The bad news is what goes up must come down, or in our case what went down must climb back up!!!! The first climb was relatively easy, we walked up to a road that crossed the river and then headed to a vantage point looking down at the waterfalls also a great view.
From there it got decidedly harder as we walked up and down hillsides at altitude. If you've never tried it, I can tell you its not much fun. The good news was whilst we were physically working pretty hard we were having fun unlike the pony trekkers. We saw the pony trekkers about half an hour into our return journey some were having a great time, others not so much.
Ulla & Hartwig are the oldest by a long way but put all but the guide to shame. On the way out everyone but Hartwig collapsed and contemplated how we were going to get out. Suggestions varied from sitting down and crying until help arrived (Lisa), calling in Otis (Matthew) calling in a rescue helicopter (mine). I was also glad that we had the best Swiss doctor ever with us. Hartwig just kept powering on, it was like watching the Energiser bunny on speed and what was really annoying was Hartwig is about 75 and didn't look out of breath or tired. I suspect if there was another walk he would have done that too.
When we eventually got back to camp, all hot and bothered I had what is loosely described as a cappachino followed by a little nana nap to aid with the recovery. The pony trekkers came in looking a little worse for wear, but they seemed to have enjoyed themselves. Next activity on the schedule was the village tour and museum, I have to say I'm over them. Whilst I can't speak the local language after a while you get the jist of the conversation and our local guide was really unhappy that she had a small group because she would get a smaller tip. It appeared to me they had a bit of a "discussion" lets say and as a result a couple more people joined our group. The only amusing thing was watching people including Lisa drink milky coloured warm beer that has been filtered through someones old socks. The most interesting tipbit was the white or yellow coloured plastic bags on sticks, basically it was used as a signal to let people know its a drinking house and the different coloured bags indicates what the beer is brewed from. Lets just say there were alot of coloured bags on poles in such a small village.
There was a male peacock at the camp it had beautiful plumage but the females just don't care... typical.
After dinner it was off to the bar for some Amarula. (Muti purposes only) Then I took on Thomas at ping pong, after a discussion about the legitimacy of my serving technique I was comprehensively beaten, 21 to 6 and I think those 6 points were sympathy points. I moved to more comfortable surroundings the pool table...Rimson hadn't been beaten before at Malealea, so when I dethroned him the barman hailed my misspent youth. From that moment on I owned that table despite Mika's interesting rule changes. The other good thing about us playing pool was whilst we played the bar stayed open and the generator stayed on. Meanwhile Lisa joined the gang in drinking copious amounts of Amarula, I think the team decided it was safer than the water.
Still the reigning heavy weight pool champion of the world!!!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed Lesotho and even tried some traditional Joala ba Sesotho! Hamonate!
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