Sani Pass Tour, Lesotho

Yesterday we drove from St. Lucia to the southern Drakensberg. The drive took almost five hours. Sounds like a lot, but it's very manageable since you're not allowed to speed on the highways and country roads. There are also a lot of speed cameras on the roads.

The service at the gas stations is great. You drive up to a pump and immediately an employee comes over to ask what you need. Usually it's a full tank. During the refueling, the employee cleans all the windows and yesterday they even checked the tire pressure and oil level in our car. Of course, we gave them a tip and a big compliment.

We have a great accommodation here in Underberg. From here, we took a guided tour to the Sani Pass today.

Warren, the tour guide, picked us up at around 8:15 am. Jim, another guest from Taiwan, also joined us. It was cool, a small group. I was supposed to sit in the front. Warren kept feeding us with information about the area, nature, animals, etc. We found it all very interesting. Especially the lesson about snakes! Daniela and I looked at each other in disbelief, because we must have been incredibly lucky during our hiking in the northern Drakensberg. There are many snakes in this area and some are very venomous. How about that for lucky ones?

I took photos the whole time and Warren was very patient with stopping for me. The scenery was once again a DREAM. At times, I was so amazed by the mountain panorama that my mouth dropped open!

We then reached the border crossing to Lesotho, where our guide had to bribe the officials so that Jim could enter. He paid 15 euros as a bribe, while a regular visa would have cost him 150 euros and a lot of paperwork (which was not possible for him because he decides spontaneously when to continue his travels). Jim explained that Lesotho makes entry difficult for people from Taiwan due to the influence of China...

The journey continued. We encountered one hairpin turn after another and the view on all sides was incredibly impressive. Ground squirrels kept popping up. The car had an altitude meter and we were already at about 2800 meters above sea level. We made a stop at the highest pub in South Africa. The pub was really cool. The interior was stylishly decorated. I immediately signed us into a visitor book. After that, Jim and I enjoyed the view of the mountains on the terrace with a drink. Everyone seemed very satisfied with the tour and the weather. The weather was supposed to be bad all day, but it turned out fine.

After 45 minutes, our tour continued. As we got into the car, I saw a marmot and said to everyone, "oooh a marmot" and Warren said, "oh no Anke, this is a rat"! Oops :-/ - nice -! In Lesotho, we saw several shepherds who looked different from those in South Africa. They wore cloaks that resembled blankets and some had woolen balaclavas over their heads. When I saw the first one, I asked if they were gangsters. That's the outfit of the people here. The people also seemed quite friendly. The children loved it when we waved at them. Dark clouds appeared at times and you could already hear faint thunder in the mountains. I thought it was amazing. Warren looked a bit concerned about the impending storm. Well, he turned out to be right. Just as we arrived at our next stop in a small village in Lesotho, the storm started. What followed was the most intense thunderstorm I've ever experienced, and I've been to the mountains many times. It was simply terrifying. Such lightning and loud thunder, I had never seen or heard anything like it before today. Luckily, we were sitting in the car and were safe. We even got to witness a tornado, so it wasn't exactly dreamlike anymore. Adventure at its best! When it only rained, we were led by a villager into a hut belonging to the locals. These huts are so minimalist, none of us would have any idea how to survive there. First, a woman showed us how flour is made there. The grains were placed on a board-like stone and she repeatedly crushed them with another stone until they were completely ground. I was impressed and got to try it myself. HELP, it was exhausting, I almost bit off my tongue. The local women need about an hour to produce 1.5 kg of flour. I would probably need a week and then a recovery treatment. It's incredible what they can do. They also explained everything about village life in between. We were deeply impressed by the way of life of the villagers. Then there were some dance performances and of course, one by one, we were invited to join them. Daniela, who apparently has some African blood in her, danced her heart out. The locals were thrilled by her dance performance, they went crazy. With me, it didn't quite look like a Lesotho dance, but it didn't matter. The fun was what counted. After that, we were served freshly baked bread, which tasted very good. And we were given a drink, which we were asked to taste before they told us what it was... Daniela took the first sip and made a face - slightly confused, she asked, "Is this from a goat?... the pee?" The whole hut burst into laughter, which seemed to never end.

When we left the hut, the rain had stopped. Now we were led to the hut of the village healer. Here we learned all about her skills. Very interesting. Then she performed a dance and all I could think was, please don't laugh... I had to bite my lips so hard not to burst into tears. But I found it all very surreal. Luckily, the session didn't last too long and we were done with our village tour. After that, we drove to the nearest town in Lesotho. Personally, I found it very unpleasant. I had the feeling that everyone was staring at us like aliens. It was interesting to see how many people moved around on donkeys or horses.

Then we headed back, and what can I say, the storm came back too. We drove through the clouds on one stretch - you couldn't see anything. But Warren safely brought us off the pass. It was a super beautiful, interesting, and exciting day for us, and we're happy that we booked the tour like this (if anyone is interested: we can highly recommend the extended day tour by Major Adventures ;-)

Now we're sitting in our hotel room listening to the crickets that come out again after the storm.