While at Amphitheatre we chose to do a hike in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. Most people have never heard of Lesotho and my kids were in that tally. I had spent 10 days in Lesotho before – 6 of which were on horseback and it is a beautiful place with lovely people. It is often ranked as one of the 30 poorest countries. The moment we arrived in Lesotho, the lovely paved South African roads were gone and it was crazy, rutted mud/dirt paths. You knew you were in a very different place.
The people are famous for conical hats with a very intricate design on the point (which adorns their flag) and wearing a blanket as an article of clothing. The blanket has a cool history – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basotho_blanket Lesotho is the highest country in the world – Its lowest point of 1,400 metres is thus the highest in the world. Over 80 percent of the country lies above 1,800 metres. Lesotho is also the southernmost landlocked country in the world and is entirely surrounded by South Africa.
Tours like this are made or broken by the guide…and our guide was phenomenal. Adrian the Alien was a crazy, off-the-wall, passionate madman! He and I got along very well! Turns out we had both been at an eclipse festival in 2001 in Zambia….small world! He was super engaging, informative and so keen to show us the Lesotho he had come to know. The people we met loved him and he loved them. In one word – amazing! If you are ever in the area check him at http://www.alienadventures.co.za/AboutUs.html. We were also lucky to have a small group who got along really well – our five plus a lovely Belgian couple and 2 great German girls.
The kids learned about the history of Lesotho, met a local healer or sangoma, got to see a school and interact with kid of all ages, and check out some old petroglyphs. Adrian made it come alive and the kids followed him like he was the pied piper. The kids fed off his mad energy and he fed off theirs. If more teachers were like this we would not have an education crisis…..
Goodbye to South Africa. Down side is you must have original paper copy of your kids birth certificates to enter African countries and we had forgotten ours…luckily Adrian sorted it in a second!
Random strangers often want pix with my three cuties. We leave it to the kids to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’
Beautiful views from the pass at the border.
Rugged Lesotho countryside
First stop was the school. Amphitheatre Backpackers helps fund the school and MamaBop if the head mistress and a teacher. She is also a former student! A true success story for the kids to emulate.
These kids realise their only way out of poverty is education so many walk a lot of kilometres to come each day.
They were very interested in us probably even more due to our kids.
The kids know and love Adrian and he engages with many of them.
Sometimes he just sits and listens to them.
The kindergarten kids learning outside on a lovely day…
Adrian led the class in a few dances…they were so into it!
Big boogie!
Shakin’ it! Adrian teaches them ‘A Bun Dance” – which translates to ‘abundance’….awesome!
Adrian took my clown nose and had some fun with it! The kids had a great laugh at the two of us!
Fun with the kindergarten kids
Wonderful moments
We became part of school
Engaging with the little ones
Always so much fun with the little ones
The whole kindy class
Super fun
The school buildings built with the help of our backpackers hostel
Typical Lesotho housing
Basotho rondavel house
My love
On the wander
Just hanging…you can see his blanket clearly
Beautiful Lesotho
Amazing vistas
More local rondavels
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Such a rugged nation. The scenery and the people
Prehistoric man lived in these overhangs
So little in Lesotho has changed in thousands of years. Many boys leave home in mid teens for 8+ months for their circumcision ceremonies. Lots of ritual and learning, no anaesthesia and they come back a man…ok.. they live in these overhangs.
More overhangs
Very old petroglyphs
Adrian explained the stories behind te petroglyphs…and included some interesting opinions too!
A captivating guide
Some steep hikes but all fun when you are engaged
The pied piperA conifer forest seemed out of place – almost like we were in Canada
Man has been a blip in time in 14 billion years. Nature wins all battles – look at this plant splitting rock!
Again – fun in any bit of water
Our water babies even found life in the pools
One should always keep a hoof in a tree
A young shepherd is entranced by our group as he spies over the hilltop
Willow!
Learning with the alien (sorry joe Satriani)
With our girls any wildlife is something to be spoken to and cared for….
Ran into this crew on our way
Skye engaging with kids (as always).
Hey! Thats my clown nose!
Love it!
House of a sangoma who was not at home. A sangoma is a traditonal healer not a witch doctor as portrayed by the West. They look to help not just to get a drug customer….
This is the house of the other sangoma who was home – wile there we got hit by a huge hail storm. This was the first time my girls saw hail…and heard it!
Awesome plant life – the African Spiral Aloe. There are so many varieties of aloe in Lesotho. The West only knows one.
The way home was magical. Adrian played great tunes and we saw amazing rain curtains
the rain was so obvious
Magic!
So cool
We saw double and triple rainbows. Our route wAs the end of the rainbow….we were in the right place!
