Another glorious day !!!

Coffee in bed, love you Panda. Big breakfast. Ferry to the beach.  Walk and swim, even the cows headed onto the lagoon side, leaving us alone in the world. Back for lunch. Afternoon chill.

What is wrong in this pic?? Haha

Late afternoon I left Gray to his book and his binoculars and headed off to the spa. Much as I tried to get the man to join me, he was having none of the couples massage nonsense. He said he would rather sit on a pineapple. Massages have become a sister retreat treat. A couple of times a year, Juls, Kirst, Robs and I head off to a spa for treatments. I really missed all my girls today.  But what a wonderful spa this is.  Situated at the top of the hill, it offers a 180degree view of the sea.  The rooms are open, letting in a sea breeze and in place of pipes or Enya playing in the background there are the crashing waves. One aroma stone therapy and I was in heaven. What a treat.

I met Gray in the bar for pre’s and then off to dinner.

The weather today was spectacular, no wind and no clouds. I can’t believe we are in the middle of winter. 

Sunrise was again spectacular, ‘sky blue pink’ is a real colour.

I love the Transkei Wild Coast, with its endless beaches and dunes covered in natural forests.  A few years ago we hiked along the wild coast beaches with the kids and family friends from Kob Inn to Morgans Bay. We walked between 6 & 22km a day, stopping off at Mazeppa Bay, Wavecrest and Trennery’s for dinner, bed and breakfast. It was a great holiday and one I highly recommend.

Transkei is also a place of cows, we were again visited on the beach this morning, by a much larger herd than yesterday. They appear from nowhere on the beach around 10, spend the day sleeping on the sand and then disappear back into the forest around 4 o’clock. Apparently on the beach they don’t get bothered by flies. 

We also picked up 2 mad mutts on the beach. They joined me for a long walk, then jumped all over Gray on our return and then promptly passed out on our towels. We had another long swim, for winter the weather is amazingly sunny and warm.

We were also blessed to see 4 Southern Right Whales in the distance, along with a variety of sea birds.

 

This afternoon Kevin took us on a sundowner cruise. We were joined by a honeymoon couple from Durban and a couple from the Netherlands. The company was great, the sunset was spectacular but the highlight was watching a fish eagle swoop down to catch a fish in front of us, a really special sight. 

We woke up to our little piece of paradise on the Wild Coast, so peaceful and beautiful with the sun rising over the sea and a flock of swift terns chilling on the beach.

After breakfast we took the ferry across the lagoon to the beach. Kevin, the ferryman, like all the staff at Umngazi, was very friendly and eager to assist with anything.

 

 I did go for a nice long walk along the beach and then we had a long swim in the sea. It’s a perfect swimming beach and as the tide was going out, the conditions were perfect for a great hour in the water. It’s hard to believe that less than a week ago we were in the snow at 3 300m and now we are basking in the sun and swimming in the sea.

We virtually had the beach to ourselves, being out of season, the resort is fairly quiet.  We were however joined on the beach by a small herd of cows, who had come down to sunbathe. 

After lunch, we spent the afternoon chilling and reading in preparation for our pre dinner drinks and 4 course dinner.

I am so in my happy place. We are on ‘holiday’ for a few days, staying in the beautiful Umgazi River Bungalows on the edge of the lagoon overlooking the sea. What a glorious view. 

The trip here was an easy 340km. The journey started on the first straight road we had been on in a week, through beautiful farm lands.

 We passed through Cedarville and Kokstad, a really nice town that is clean and neat and has lots of shops. We then took the R394 to Port St Johns. The countryside is lit up with  with pastel painted houses, in hues of peach, blue, pink and turquoise. 

We passed through Flagstaff, a not so clean town, full of street vendors, general dealers and taxis. Then onto Lusikisiki, a shame that this town is so run down as it there are some beautiful old mission buildings and churches that need lots of care. The roads from theses areas to the coast are curvy and potholed, with some really bad drivers, overtaking on blind corners. The drive down to Port St Johns was really beautiful, through the Natal bush forests. 

We had a few obstacles on the road on the way in. 

We arrived at Ungazi River Bungalows in time for the Sunday braai, which we ate on the deck overlooking the lagoon. We spent the afternoon reading and birding, constantly checking out the beautiful sea view.

Dinner was a 4 course meal. With delicious breakfast, lunch and dinners being catered for, I think we have a lot of swimming and walking to do over the next few days. 

We left Semonkong Lodge at 9:30, it was a chilly 3 degrees. There are places you want to return to. This is one of those places, I would love to come in summer and swim in the river and possibly abseil down the Maletsunyane Falls, which holds the Guinness World Record for the longest single drop abseil of 204m. 

Our road trip was 153 km with a border crossing at Qacha’s Nek. The tarred road we were going on was only completed a year ago and seriously confused the GPS (Doris), who kept telling us to do a U turn and take her ‘4 x 4 bad off road’ route that would take us 24 hours, instead of 3 hours. 

Despite the tar, it was still fairly slow going but the sharp bends and steep gradients were more manageable as we descended to the border post.

Another reason for our slow pace was to take in the breathtakingly beautiful scenery. We stopped a few times to take pics. 

One disappointment was that we couldn’t find the vista of where the Senqu River makes a horseshoe bend. There are no signposts, so we followed the track to the Christ the King mission station and found the church with a picture of Jesus in all the colors of the rainbow, on the door.  Unfortunately nobody spoke English and my sign language for viewsite and horseshoe river left them flummoxed. 

It was a friendly and easy crossing back into SA. After 6 days days on tarred roads, thanks largely to the Chinese, we found ourselves on a bumpy gravel road. This 30km road took us into Matatiele, our stop for the night. 

If it had not been for the tarring of all the roads and passes we travelled in Lesotho, the 6 days would probably have taken us around 6 weeks. There are still some remote places and tracks for the seriously mad 4 x 4 enthusiasts to tackle. One such route is Baboons Pass, near Semonkong, it takes 2 days to tackle 30km. 

We are staying at Resthaven Guest House, it is comfortable and we were warmly welcomed by the owners.  Shortly after our arrival a bitter wind blew up so we decided to take a drive around town, that took all of 10 minutes. I felt like a cup of coffee an was hoping to find a coffee shop, my choices were Wimpy or Steers. 

Matatiele is a typical old small South African town. Sadly, a lot of these ‘one horse towns’ have have become ghost towns; due to national highways being built around them or mining or industry in the area closing down. Mataliele, however, on a cold Saturday afternoon was bustling and busy. Being the last town before the main route into southern Lesotho, people stock up with supplies.  

Over a delicious home cooked meal, we chatted to Phillip, the owner, who is clearly an expert on where to go and what to do in Lesotho.

We are privileged to have have travelled the beautiful and friendly country of Lesotho at last.

Kyoto, Pula, Nala – Peace, Rain, Prosperity.

Another drive of ups and downs and hairpin bends. The drive of 140km took us only 3 ½ hours. The speed limit is 100km/ hour and we average 40 to 50km/hr, it’s amazing, imagine if this was Australia, we would have a speed limit of 20.

There are lots of road signs in the middle of nowhere, village or not, I love the names – Ha Ramahope, Ha Nqheku and Ha Ralejoe to name a few.  

On the first section, we we went over 3 passes; Blue Mountain Pass, God Help Us Pass, and that was just a warm up for Bushmans Pass. 

It’s not only the construction of the road passes that amazes us but also the power lines that traverse over the tops and down into the valleys of the Maluti. How did they get there???  Most of Lesotho is now powered by the hydroelectric schemes from the Katse and Mohale dams. Once the project is completed and the other 2 dams are built, they will be self sufficient. SA in return pays Lesotho R 60 million per month for their water. Lesotho, for a country of around 2 million people are doing well out of their natural resources.

Midway we had a respite from mountain passes and drove through a couple of towns. We stopped for fuel, diesel is R4 cheaper in Lesotho and it has to be brought in from SA,  something is not right. 

This area is bordered by sandstone cliffs, with poplars growing at the base, it reminds us of Clarence, in the Free State. We had descended to 1700m, the lowest we have been in a while.  One of the towns we passed through was Roma, home to the National University of Lesotho. It is considered a varsity town, like Stellenbosch and Rhodes. 

At some point we took the A5 to Semonkong. Although we ascended rapidly, the road didn’t cling to the cliffs, like it has for the past few days. 

We turned right into Semonkong Village, a stones thrown and a very bumpy road from Semonkong lodge, where we are staying. The village and the lodge bustle with activity as the Basotho people go about their daily lives.  Men and the occasional woman, in their straw hats and blankets trot past on their ponies, followed by scuttling sheep, goats, dogs and donkeys. They are constantly transporting food and supplies, including beer to their villages, some of which are a couple of days travel away.

There is something refreshing and enchanting about the Basotho people.  Their culture is one of friendliness and openness. They always greet us as we pass, there is no road rage and we have been made to feel so welcome wherever we go.

Tonight we sleep in a traditional Basotho hut, well it looks like it from the outside, built of stone and thatch but inside we have a small double bed, a fireplace and a hot shower. There is a great view of the river running below us.  It’s really cool.

This afternoon we visited the main attraction of the area, the Maletsunyane Falls.  The falls are one of the highest single dropping waterfalls in Africa. We have visited a lot of ‘highest’ in Lesotho.  The falls create a haze of smoke as the water plummets 186m into the spectacular gorge below. It is from the smoke that Semonkong – The Place of Smoke – gets its name.

The 20 minute drive to the falls was over a really bumpy track (thank goodness for those BF G’s).  The falls are so spectacular, not as loud as Augrabies or as dramatic as Victoria Falls but really majestic. The stream at the base of the falls then flows into the Senqu River, then into the Orange and eventually into the Atlantic. It was really chilly at the top with an icy wind blowing, I think we are in for a cold spell.

We had drinks and dinner at the Duck and Donkey Tavern, the pub and restaurant are part the lodge. While sipping on our last Maluti lager and OB sherry in Lesotho we spent a long time chatting to Joseph, the bar man, come abseil instructor, about the area, education, politics and his dreams got the future. After a really great dinner we braved the cold to return to our hut. Here we found the night watchman fast asleep on our bed in front of the fire he had come in to light earlier in the evening. It took a while to wake the poor chap up, he stoked the fire and wandered off.  Only in Africa !!

As the crow flies the distance between the two dam walls is 40km, but we are not crows, so by road it was 140km and it took us 4 hours. The first 60km was along a potholed gravel road. The next 80km was on good tarred roads. However both sections, like the rest of the trip were full of ups and downs, curves and sharp corners along the mountain edge with heart stopping drops into the valleys below. The scenery was spectacular.

The area we travelled through was very rural and we encountered far more donkeys, sheep, goats and cows than cars. Some of the little herdsmen tend to the livestock high on the mountains look as young as 5. A far cry from our Saints 5 year olds who have everything done for them. 

We are staying at Mohale Lodge tonight. Like at Katse, workers accommodation has been transformed into a hotel. It is clean and comfortable and boasts 3 stars.

This afternoon we went on a tour of the Mohale Dam Wall. This is phase 1B of the Lesotho Highlands Project. The two dams are linked through 32km of underground tunnels. This dam was constructed very differently to Katse in that it is a concrete faced rockfall embankment. Blasting took place in the valley and 7,2 million cubic metres of rock was then used to construct the 145m high wall.  It is 600m thick at the base and 10m thick at the crest.  This is all so interesting but I guess you have to visit the dams to appreciate the magnitude and scale of them. 

As part of the tour we were fortunate to be granted access to cross the wall and drive down the rock filled face to the base of the wall. Besides the tour guides on both tours we were accompanied by security at all times. Security is everywhere, there are soldiers, police and a private security company present. I still can’t believe that we only have to pay R10 for this experience.  

After breakfast we sat on the deck overlooking the dam and did some birding. There are only 151 bird species in the area. We saw some different species including a malachite sunbird. 

From there we took a walk through Katse Village to the Katse Botanical Gardens. Entrance fee was a bank breaking R5 per person. It is 42 acres of alpine flora developed in 1996. The gardens were created as a result of a plant rescue mission to mitigate the impact of the Katse Dam, particularly the Lesotho National Plant, the spiral aloe. We saw magnificent specimens of this plant. 

At an altitude of 2229m, it claims to be the highest botanical garden in the Southern atmosphere. The gardens, like all of Lesotho, must be spectacular in summer.

This afternoon we spent a fascinating 2 hours touring the dam wall, entrance for this amazing tour was R10 per person. 

The Katse Dam was built between 1991 and 1996 as the first of 4 phases of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. The project provides electricity to Lesotho and water to Gauteng and the surrounding provinces.

 This double curvature concrete arch dam is the second largest and highest in Africa. It is 185m high and the crest length is 710m. The concrete arch consists of 46 segments and is 60m thick at the base tapering to 9m at the crest.  2.32 million cubic metres of concrete were produced to build it. This was transported by cement mixers from Ficksburg, over those scary passes we drove yesterday, at 40 minute intervals, day and night, for 5 years. 

The wall has a series of parallel tunnels and galleries that contain precision instruments that monitor the behavior of the dam and also act as drainage channels for water seepage. As part of the tour, we were taken to level 8 of 14 inside the dam wall.

 I found it amusing that we had to wear hard hats, if anything was going to go wrong, like the 30m of concrete holding back trillions of water breaking – hard hats were not going to save us. For security purposes we were not allowed to take photos inside the wall.  We then took a drive over the dam wall. 

View from Dam wall

There is so much more to the project, like underground tunnels, that are gravity powered but I have bored you with enough statistics. The route in was well worth it to tour this engineering feat.  

Another contribution of the project is the establishment of trout farms. The farms export to China and to Woolworths and Pick ‘n Pay in SA. They are absolutely delicious, I had one for dinner.

Trout cages

We had a great dinner with Lauren and Pete and left this morning with still more ski instructors and staff arriving eager to start the upcoming ski season. I was sad to have missed a day of skiing. 

Our first stop on the Maloti Route was shortly after we left, at a cell phone beacon on the top of one of the mountains. The 360 view was spectacular, we were at 3320m, it was 8deg, windy and chilly as there was still snow about. The vegetation up there reminded me of Cape fynbos. We were a bit short of breath after walking around, I guess it was the altitude.

I was expecting an easy day of traveling as we only had 224km to travel to our next destination, Katse Dam. OMG I was so wrong, the journey took us 6 hours, with a quick fuel stop, on really good tarred roads. 

The road infrastructure in this country is insane, it must be worth as much as the country itself. We have been on some pretty hairy and scary passes during our travels and today rivals them. 

It appears the Chinese, as well as the Italians, have been involved in road constructions around Afriski. The Letseng Diamond mine, found the biggest diamond ever (640 carats) last year, use the road infrastructure in the area. The passes leading up to the dam were built for the construction of the dam in the 1980s and are still in excellent condition. 

The trip was basically divided into three sections.  The scary descent of the Maloti Route from the rural highlands, we descend rapidly along cliff hugging curves to the town of Botha-Bothe. In the rural areas the Basotho herdsmen and shepherds dress in the traditional blankets, balaclavas and boots.  Farming is all done by hand. 

The next section around Botha-Bothe was a reprieve from the mountain passes but we had to fight our way through some busy towns. The people here wear western clothes and have all the modern amenities. Very different to their rural brothers. 

We were stopped in 4 road blocks today. Obviously not for speeding. The police were really friendly, all asked the same questions; where have you come from? Where are you going to? Can I see your drivers license?

From Leribe , we took the Nelson Mandela Drive, some drive, to Katse. We ascended and descended over many Maluti Mountains till we arrived exhausted at Katse Lodge, the only place to stay in the area. It was formerly part of the construction camp for the dam and was probably the single quarters. It boasts 2 ½ stars, lucky Kirst isn’t with us. It needs a little TLC, but the the rooms are big and clean, the bed is comfortable, we have hot water and a beautiful view of the dam –  It’s perfect. After  three days days of travel, we booked in for 2 nights, so we can explore the area tomorrow.

Katse Lodge

View of Katse Dam

We left a sunny and warm Himeville (10 deg) at 8:30, dressed in summer clothes. The drive through the foothills to the start of Sani Pass was absolutely beautiful. The road along this section is newly tarred and in great condition.

Sani Pass was originally developed in 1913 and climbs the face of the Drakensberg escarpment to an altitude of 2874m. Once the pass was no more than a footpath used by Bushmen. Later on Sani Pass became the main trade route for early traders, missionaries and adventurers from Natal. Today the pass climbs 900m over 8km. It is the only access point between the Mokhotlong district and KZN, it thus constitutes an economic life-line for the Basotho people. 

I’m really glad we were in a 4 x 4 (with BF Goodriches) as the last 8km of the trip to the ‘Sky Kingdom’ is a harsh narrow track that meanders upwards next to the Mkomazana River.  There are some pretty hectic hairpin bends, with hectic drops over cliff edges. Going over would not be conducive to one’s health.

 Before the big ascent, we had to pass through the South African border post. Here we picked up a French back packer, not sure how he would have got up the pass if we hadn’t come along. At the top of the pass we went through Lesotho Border Patrol and stopped at Sani Mountain Lodge for hot chocolate. The lodge boasts having the highest pub in Africa. We were also lucky enough to see the Sloggett’s ice rat. 

So we left this morning in summer clothes and arrived at 2478m to the remnants of last weeks snow, with a brisk wind, we were rather chilly. From the top of Sani we headed into Lesotho and the Maluti Mountains. The road was newly built and magnificent. We stoped off at Mokhotlong to drop off Rudi, the French Backpacker, not sure what the hell he is going to do there but we were glad to be moving on. We did the Tlaeeng Pass and reached 3240m above sea level. I have never encountered so many ascents, descents and curves on a road – certainly not conducive to those suffering from motion sickness. Whenever we ascended to 2500m or higher we encountered snow, it is still really thick in places. It’s hard to believe we were swimming and snorkeling 2 weeks ago, what a country of contrasts we live in. 

It took us about 4 hours to do 100km this morning and the next 80km took us 2 hours, and this was on brilliant roads (except for the Sani Pass section). Plans are afoot to tar Sani, great for the infrastructure and economy of Lesotho but bad news for 4 x 4 and biking adventurers. 

The mountainous scenery is stark. The grass is yellow and the soil is a dark grey. There are round stone and thatch Basotho huts littering the mountain slopes. The main form of subsistence are sheep and mealies. 

We were not sure where we going to stay tonight. We popped into Afri-Ski resort and as the ski season was only starting in 2 weeks time, we were able to get accommodation. The place is totally abuzz with maintenance and cleaning going on. We walked up to the ski slope, where artificial snow is blown onto the slopes, in the absence of real snow.  Whew there is a lot of work to be done here. 

We had lunch and dinner at the Sky Restaurant, the highest restaurant in Africa at 3010m. While I blog, sitting next to the fire in the restaurant (we are now in winter clothes), Gray is sipping on Maluti beer and planning tomorrows route. Small world, Lauren Moir (daughter of our good friends Gill and Steve from the Greytown wedding) and her boyfriend, Pete, were in the restaurant, what are the chances.