After two days of driving from Johannessburg we left Himmeville and headed up Sani Pass into Lesotho. Sani Pass is the only eastern access to Lesotho and is 2900 metres high. It is 4WD only, the customs post will not let you past if you don’t have a 4WD.
The road is a rough track in places, but not that hard. The most difficult part is the last kilometre that is a series of switchbacks up to the summit of the pass.
We then went though customs into Lesotho paying $3 road tax. We then drove on a brand new road (still being built) that was using chinese trucks and construction equipment, with the Lesotho workers supervised with Chinese supervisors. We then crossed an even higher pass Kotisephola at 3241 metres. It was a 50km drive to Mokhotlong passing Basotho villages along the way, as well as herders with their anogora goats and donkeys and horses. We passed 3 cars.
After reaching Mokhotlong with people riding horses down the main street we realised we needed to retrace our course back a few kilometres to reach the turnoff to St James Lodge.
St James Lodge is fairly basic accommodation (no power) next to St James school and has several nearby villages that the school children come from.
By the look of the third photo , you need to watch out for rock falls on the Sani pass .
Are you pleased you stocked up on food etc ? Have you seen other tourists ? xx
Very pleased we stocked up – there are a few little tiny shops, but they mainly seem to sell cooking pots, plastic tubs and soap. No other tourists – we haven’t seen anyone other than ‘locals’ since we arrived here. xx
It looks very desolate but at the same time quite intriguing/magical not sure if magical is the right word but….
What’s in the bags by the fence at the customs building – seized contraband or maybe souvenir rocks to go.
Desolate at high altitude, but lower down there are villages everywhere. Where we’re staying at the moment is so remote, a lot of the kids probably haven’t seen white people before. Don’t know what’s in the bags … hadn’t even noticed them until you pointed them out