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Maseru & Sani Pass (Drackenberg Range) via Pietermaritzburg.
Hello from Lesotho

Sent May 19, 2005 

1. Windhoek (Namibia) to Upington to Bloemfontein, So.
Africa.  We arrived in Upington (my 2nd time there), at the
southern fringes of the Kalahari desert, 14 hours later. 
The landscape is largely the bush country I have described
before.  It is 7 hours from Upington to Bloemfontein, the
landscape continuing as before.  But about halfway, the
land becomes more fertile and you begin to see endless
fields of corn, sun flower, etc., much like our fields in
Kansas and Nebraska.  The mountains start as hills and rock
outcrops say about 30km before Bloemfontein and get more so
to the east, toward Lesotho.  The latter maybe designated
as the Switzerland of Southern Africa, as it too is very
mountainous.

I should add that the complex of bus stations (Intercape,
Greyhound, Translux) at the stadium in Bloemfontein is very
nice and there is even a 24-hour cafe and dining place.  Right
across from that complex is a 2-block complex of all sorts
of eateries, and the Internet cafe I used.

In Bloemfontein, the whites seemingly live either
at the stadium, if there is rugby, or in offices and homes.
 If you want to see really colorful parts of the city, take
a ride to the market near the train station, also where the
minibus station is located.  The downtown area is also
packed by blacks, whereas the whites are more in suburban
shopping centers, as in USA.


2. Bloemfontein to Maseru, Lesotho.  Lesotho is entirely
landlocked by South Africa.  The reason I came to Bloemfontein
is that I wanted to enter Lesotho thru Maseru and exit from Sani
Pass. Intercape has a bus (for 95 Rands) to Maseru daily at
7am; however, you can take a taxi (25 Rands from where
Intercape drops you in Bloemfontein) to the minibuses on
St. George St. near the train station.  There you pay only
40 Rands for the 2-hour ride.  Unlike minibuses elsewhere
on this trip, including Namibia, where they fill a bus of
12 seats with 18 to 20 passengers with bags on their laps,
in South Africa a bus for 12 passengers takes 12
passengers, so you are in more comfort.  But be prepared
for very loud (perhaps even gospel) music.

a) At the Border. A young, obviously educated, woman, her
name Madavita--sounds like Matacita--helped me to the bus,
as she too was going to Maseru.  She turned out to be a
dentist, and later in Maseru, she also helped me to get to
the Anglican Center, where I spent the night.  The bus from
Bloemfontein brings you all the way to the border where you
get the exit stamp from South Africa, then walk about a
km--I dont know why such a huge distance, as also in Mamuno
between Botswana and Namibia--to the Lesotho immigration,
where I got the entry stamp for free.  The woman saw some
friends in a car and so we rode the 1km distance.  The same
car also brought me to the Anglican Center, where I paid 20
Rands for the trip.  (A ride anywhere in town is 10 Rands.)

b) 1st Impression.  In describing the towns in Botswana
(haphazard) and Namibia (orderly, neat), I used the word
"sterile" the describe the aura in the cities, for except
for Windhoek I did not feel a pulse in them.  One reason is
that these are environments almost exclusively designed and
defined by whites, with many blacks there as if incidental.
 I found Maseru a charming city, very up-to-date and
modern, BUT defined by black Africans.  The people are
friendly and civilized, seemingly God-fearing sort of
people.  The best comparison I have is the impression I had
in Zambia, thus perhaps closest to what we have in decent
black townships in USA, though I did not see huts with a
thatched roofs as homes.  Almost all homes are of brick,
the not well-to-do living in smaller ones.  The city is in
a valley surrounded with scenic mountains and rock
formations.  I found it an attractive place and strolled
all around on Sunday.  By the way,   I noticed that in
Zambia and now also in Lesotho, actually also in some parts
of South Africa, black people take Saturdays and Sundays
very seriously, as God's day.  Shops are either closed, or
close early, open late and close early.

c) The Anglican Center.  Is the cheapest place to stay in
town.  The place is on a prominent hill, right above the
palace of the king, with a nice church, school buildings, a
simple hospitality center, and other admin. buildings in a
complex.  I paid 50 Rands to stay, 25 Rands for a nice
dinner with rice, potatoes, salad, beef cubes, and a small
pitcher of orange juice, 10 Rands for breakfast incl.
coffee, bread, cheese, baloney, and cereal and milk.  The
rooms are Spartan but clean, with 2 single beds, 2
blankets, toilet bath outside.  I think the place can
accommodate up to about 18 people; I was the only tourist,
but there were 4 young black ladies in the next unit, for
some sort of such matter.  As far as the best place to
stay, there is also the Sun International Hotel & Casino on
top of a nice hill, where I spent several hours browsing
and taking photos the 1st morning.  By the way, be at the
Center before 7pm, as a sign says no admission thereafter. 
Be aware that not every taxi knows where the center is. 
(Coming from the Circle in town, turn right at the post
office, drive up 2 blocks and take the road left past the
school on the right, keep circling right until you come to
the driveway entrance, and a sign there, at the top of the
hill.)  While the place is safe, the environment is too
Spartan and you might find yourself sleeping alone (but the
guard) in the whole complex.  So you might be happier at a
hotel.

d) Winter setting in Southern Africa.  South Africa spreads
from about the 35 to 25-degrees latitude south.  So the
weather in Mid-May is about what we would have say in
Tennessee or Oklahoma in November: cool but sunny days (if
not raining, which it was for 10 hours coming to
Bloemfontein, also thru the night in Maseru), but cold
nights and in early morning.  In other words, having lost
my long-sleeve fleece shirt, and still wearing sandals, I
was feeling the cold lately.  So first thing this morning,
I took a taxi to where clothing stores might be open on
Sunday (May 15).  I got a warm windbreaker jacket (100
Rands, 10 discount) and new shoes (90 Rands, 20 discount)
at similar prices in USA.  In much better mood, I roamed
the streets.  Nights and early mornings are quite cold, so
much so that many women in Maseru walked around with folded
heavy blanket tied to their waist, another over their
shoulders.

e) If you are coming back from Maseru to Bloemfontein, the
minibuses are right after the South African border post (on
both sides of the road) where you get entry stamp.  (Alas,
my taxi passed the border post of Lesotho, so I exited
without a stamp.)  For 30 Rands they take you to a town
45km from Bloemfontein, where you get into another minibus
and pay 12 Rands to Bloemfontein.  Once there, ask the
driver to drop you at the minibus taxi stand to the
stadium.  Unlike the real (but beat-up) taxi that charges
25 Rands, the minibus taxi charges 3.50 Rands and drops you
right across from the Stadium Bus Terminal, near the
Internet cafe.  (There are no cheap minibuses to
Pietermaritzburg.)


3. HOW to GET TO SANI PASS in Lesotho. I started typing this
at the Chinese-owned Internet cafe across from the post
office in Maseru, Lesotho.  I arrived last evening, stayed
at the Anglican Center mentioned in Lonely Planet; will
leave for the Sani Pass on the eastern side of Lesotho and
try to cross to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (80km from
Durban) thru Lesotho.  They said the bus leaves at 6am; I
made arrangements with a taxi to pick me up at 5am, though
I am not sure they understood my destination.  Sani Pass is
as remote in Lesotho (actually in whole East Africa) as you
can get, and I have no idea yet how to cross to South
Africa from there.  If all OK, I'll complete this in South
Africa . . .

a) 2nd Thoughts. Continuing typing at the Internet cafe
near the stadium bus terminal in Bloemfontein, just got my
Greyhound ticket to Pietermaritzburg at midnight (210 Rands
for 8+ hours of drive of 500km, there about 8:30am).  Will
try to do Sani Pass from So. Africa, NOT from Lesotho. Much
safer!  Stayed in Maseru a 2nd night just for the 6am bus
supposedly to Sani Pass.  The taxi did NOT show up--which
is the 3rd time in Africa after all promises.  Just as
well. Woke up at midnight with the inner warning that I am
about to do something crazy.  The bus may say to (rather
toward) Sani Pass as destination, but not many people live
in those very rugged (and in winter cold) mountains, so it
has to be the nearest town, which is 75 km.  So how to get
from the last town to the pass is wide open if I do this
from Lesotho, why I decided to do the Sani Pass and a bit
into Lesotho from So. Africa, and Pietermaritzburg is the
nearest last city to embark from.  Even Lonely Planet warns
that I may have to prearrange rides and possibly wait for a
day or more to find connections in these parts of Lesotho,
and this in summer.  With winter approaching, already
almost freezing cold in Maseru at nights, I imagined the
cold at 3000+ meters on Drackenberg range, and me lugging 2
bags on mountain roads, periodically stopping to kick
myself in the rear.

Anyway, I came to my senses finally, and decided to do this
thru hostels in Pietermaritzburg, if possible.  So I'll
continue from there one way or other in a few days.  By the
way, I had driven over and around the very scenic
Drackenberg Mountain Range in South Africa in Feb. 2003,
but Sani Pass is near where this rugged mountain reaches
max. height.

b) SANI PASS via South Africa, RECOMMENDED. OK, my
instincts were right. Much easier to do Sani Pass and
Drakensberg Mountains from Pietermaritzburg (80km from
Durban on Indian Ocean).

* Pietermaritzburg. I took the overnight bus from
Bloemfontein to Pietermaritzburg (500km) and arrived there
at 8:30am and walked to the UMPHITI Backpackers Hostel,
about a 10-min walk.  (At exit from Greyhound Station, walk
straight (not left or right), pass the MacDonald's and the
shopping center; at next street, turn left, next street
turn right, next street (Bulwer St.) turn left; Umphiti is
about 150 meters on the left; you'll be passing several
homes with 3 or 4 dogs barking at you behind the gate.  I
found Pietermaritzburg a lovely large city, capital of the
Kwazulu Natal district, and a university town.  Just as you
arrive in the city, you drop down a steep escarpment that
has the whole city, very lush with many trees, below you. 
For Americans who know West Virginia and Maryland, the
landscape is almost a duplicate of the drop from Frostburg
to Cumberland, Maryland.  However, the vegetation is more
southerly, like the eucalyptus trees you find mostly in
Southern Calif.  So therefore, I should compare the
landscape also to the canyon lands along the Coast
Mountains of Southern Calif.

Pietermaritzburg is really a nice city
that gives one "hometown" feelings.  The weather was summer
warm already early in the morning when I arrived for the Sani
Pass, not a cloud in the sky.  But it was cold at night,
though not nearly so as in Maseru or Bloemfontein.  The
weather remained the same when I went up to the Sani Pass
the next day, then became cloudy when I was leaving for
Durban this noon.  I was lucky, also being able to count
the stars in the southern sky at night, watching them
disappear one-by-one over the horizon as a result of
earth's rotation west to east.

NOTE: The reason I came to Umphiti is simple: it is
recommended in the Coast to Coast booklet, AND it is a
pick-up point for the so-called SANI PASS CARRIERS, and it
is also a BAZ BUS stop for buses to J'burg (and I thought
via Swaziland, my next destination.  More about this
later.)

* Umphiti Backpackers. At Umphiti, I was greeted warmly by
the young managers Kim Hubbard and Kelvin Basson (who are
dating).  Since I was not stating there but just using the
place to be picked up by Sani Pass Carriers, I ordered a
nice breakfast for 25 Rands.  Meanwhile, Kim called Sani
Pass Carriers and scheduled me for 12:30pm pick-up.  The
latter have 3 pick-up times: 10:30am, 12:30am, and 3:30am,
for the 1.5-hour drive to a town called UNDERBERG much
closer to the mountains, in fact, 5km further to the
village of HIMEVILLE, where they said my hosts at SANI
LODGE would pick me up to the lodge, about 20 minutes of
drive.  Not having slept for 36 or more hours, I dozed off
on a comfy chair in the communal room and waited to be
picked up.

* Sani Pass Carriers & Sani Lodge.  I was picked up on time
and brought to the Carriers' office in Underberg (120 Rands
one-way; minibuses do the same stretch for 60 Rands, but
first you must 20 Rands taxi to the station, and the
connections are more arduous), where I met the owners Ian
and Jane Darling (married, 2 univ.-age kids), she from
Zambia, he from Zimbabwe, now 6 years in So. Africa.  (Ian
told me that since Mugabe took over in Zimbabwe, some
10,000 whites have left.)  Sani Lodge, in turn is owned by
a youngish couple (with 2 kids) Russell and Simone Suchet,
he a very informed (former teacher and author of book
"Backpackers' Guide to Lesotho), she originally from
Zimbabwe.  Simone picked me up an hour after the Carriers
dropped me off at Somerville Arms--also backpackers
there--in Himeville.  The ride to the Sani Lodge takes
15-20 minutes on dirt road.


* SANI LODGE is at a beautiful location at the foot of the
Drakensberg range.  It is surrounded by rugged
rock hills on 3 sides, which would make for nice trekking. 
It took one German girl 5.5 hours to make to the top of one
mountain, she said, partially running on less-steeper
parts.  (Huh!)  Anyway, none of the people there wanted to
climb the 24-km distance to the top of Sani Pass; they just
walked the trails around the lodge, some wondering how they
might get there by hitching.

There is a club house with kitchen, fire place, and
communal chit chat, with lots of info on the walls. Coffee
is free, you mark what you drink and pay later. Dorm rooms
go for 60 Rands, arranged in motel-like units, 4 beds to a
unit.  Russell added a nice touch to his hospitality in
that since there were few backpackers there, we each had a
private room.  He does several tours of several days, but
he did not have one for just one day to the top of Sani
Pass.  He called and arranged one for me the next day (May
18) for 240 Rands (about $50) with a tour company in
Underberg.


* Sani Pass and Sani Top Chalet at 2874 meters. I should
add that 1km from the Sani Lodge, towards the pass, there
is also a more exclusive Sani Pass Hotel, with quad-bike,
etc. options.  (I did not check their prices.)  As far as
traffic, should you want to get to the pass on your own,
the distance to the South African border station is 16km on
very rough roads; from there it is 8km more to the Lesotho
border station where you do the real climb on very rough
rocky roads--which you still can manage on 2-wheel drives,
if there is no snow.  This is a very steep climb where you
gain 800 meters over 8km, mostly on the last few km.  There
is a village right after the border station, and to the
right the SANI TOP CHALET.  So the area is not as desolate
as I thought; indeed, there was moderate traffic, a vehicle
going up or down say every 30 minutes--however, most of
these were pickup trucks with fully-loaded trunks and an
entire family up front.  So I cannot tell how long you
would need to wait to hitch a ride with someone.  (If you
do, it is suggested that you pay at least 20 Rands to the
driver.)

My tour group, already loaded with 7 elderly tourists in
Underberg, picked me up in a Landrover at 10:15am.  The
climb was gorgeous, the view down towards So. Africa
awesome, with layers of small valleys and rugged mountains.
 (I will let my photos do the talking.)  The scene to the
Lesotho side was quite different, a mountain top valley of
grassland totally void of trees and brushes, so much so
that I immediately compared this to the endless steppes of
Mongolia.  As if to confirm, all homes were round, made of
stones put on top of one and the other, with thatched
rain-proof roof.  Unlike the gers in Mongolia, these homes
were there to stay, but otherwise the scenes were very
similar, including the grazing sheep herds nearby.

We stopped at the spotless but very Spartan hut of an
elderly woman, ate the freshly-baked very hearty--still
warm--bread she had baked for our visit.  I had a photo
taken with her; we all paid her 10-20 Rands each and
departed for the Chalet for lunch.  I had a delicious thick
soup (25 Rands) with freshly-baked bread and also ordered a
plate of trout (40 Rands)--of all things--freshly flown
from South Africa.  Then we headed back.

* About Lesotho mountain village, hut.  I mentioned that
the hut we visited on the tour was very Spartan.  It had no
windows, one double-door at the side opposite to the wind
blow to keep the hut insulated.  The fire place is in the
middle, over a circle of stone at floor level, so that the
heat from cooking or heating also heats the stone and so
maintains the heat longer.  (By the way, the bread is baked
also from the top of the pot, with burning fragments spread
also on the lid.)  Although there was strong wind outside,
and it was cold, we felt comfortable inside the hut.  So it
seems, like the Mongols, these mountain people have learned
to be efficient with what little they have.  Since there
were not even bushes around as far as the eye could see,
the people rely mostly on fast-burning grass for cooking
and heating their homes, though presumably some people
bring wood from lower elevations too.  I saw some branches
in a pile outside one home, probably kept for the real
winter.  By the way, the guide said when sheep shearing
time comes, which is one source of income for the
mountain-top residents, they get 20 cents (of Rand) per
sheep, doing this efficiently with hand-scissors.  Imagine!

NOTE: You should note that all traffic in this area
observes the time table set by the So. African border post:
they are open from 8am to 4pm ONLY.  Dont arrive there (at
the bottom of the mountains) earlier or later.

* Return.  Having done what I came for, I slept another
night at the Sani Lodge; at 7:30am, Simone drove me (and
her 2 kids to school) to Himeville Arms, where after a cup
of coffee, Ian picked-me up to the office in Underberg, and
then brought me 1.5 hours to Pietermaritzburg, for my
Intercape bus to Durban (80km, 90 Rands.)

Sirman