Lesotho Village Hike

 Scenes around the village.

 Shepherds taking it easy.

 The local traditional healer.

 The woman who made our meal.

 Laundry.

 A young sheperd who was watching his sheep while hiding in the cave from the drizzle.

Here I am! Sorry, no wi-fi for over a week and I won't have it again tomorrow. So I am posting this one first and will catch you up as soon as I can. I will be in Cape Town on the 16th and should be able to by then.  I am fine, healthy and having a good time.

Tuesday, December 5^th.

Nathan and I were both up by 5. We could hear rain on the roof. We were told that it was supposed to rain, but obviously we were hoping it wouldn't. Luckily it didn't amount to much. We went and had breakfast and then got organized for our hike. We were offered two hikes. One was a challenging hike up through a steep gorge onto the top of the Drakensberg mountains and then down again on the other side using chains. The other hike was through a remote village in Lesotho. Nathan and I opted for the village as we wanted to see the culture. We had been told that the people lived a very primitive life and were pastoralists.

We met our guide/driver and the whole group of fifteen people. There are five from our Intrepid group and ten others, mostly young girls from various places in Europe. Thankfully the rain had stopped but the sky remained grey and ominous. We drove for over two hours to get to a remote border crossing into Lesotho. The border is high up one of the Drakensberg mountains and had an amazing view. We had to use our passports to check out of South Africa. Then we got back in the van and drove about a kilometre to the Lesotho border which is right at a small river which separates the two countries. We had to get out again and get stamped into Lesotho. Right after that the road turned into an very bumpy dirt road and it was very obvious we had driven into a third world country.

This is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is the highest country because it has the highest low point of any country. It is called the Mountain Kingdom. It has a monarchy which has limited power. There is a democratically elected government. The population is about 1.2 million people and 75% of them have no electricity. The country is Christian but many people also practise pagan beliefs. The people are 'ancestrialists' as the believe that they can communicate with their ancestors who care and guide them in their lives and help them make decisions. That is why the people still build the round rondaval houses, as this is where they contact their ancestors.

We drove to a small very basic school that had five classrooms for kids up to grade seven. The hostel we are staying in has helped to fund the building of the newest classroom. Unfortunately the students were out for the summer but we met a one of the teachers who gave us some information. He told us that going to school is compulsorybut many students don't finish grade seven. And only 35% of the students go to high school, because the school is a two hour walk away and only the primary school is free the high school is not. Most of the families are too poor to afford the $80 to send their child to high school. We sat at the desks in a very basic class, and on the desk was the final exam. I read it (and photographed it) as it contained 50 multiple choice questions. By our standards the questions were very easy for grade seven. I will share it with my teacher friends later.

Then we began our hike. We walked about eleven kilometres through the village and up to a series of caves. We saw many local people and shepherds as they went about their daily lives. Many of the shepherds are young boys. They dress in blankets and woollen hats even in the rain. We visited a local healer and sat in his rondaval as he told us how he came to become one and how he can help people. He cannot cure major illnesses but he can take care of some complaints and personal problems.

After that we walked to another rondaval where we met a local woman who had prepared the local dish for us. It consisted of 'pap' which is cornmeal made into something like porridge, and a stewed spinach and vegetable dish. This apparently is their staple diet three times a day. They are mostly vegetarian and only eat meat once or twice a month.

When we left there it began to drizzle and we put on our rain gear. We walked up the side of the mountain to a couple of caves, one of which had some rock art created by the bushman and dating back about five thousand years. We ate our supplied egg salad sandwich here. We had been followed by a local dog that made himself a nuisance when we ate. None of us wanted to pet him or get bitten by him, especially in this really remote area. I told the guide to get rid of the dog and he tried to get it to go, but it would not, so he hit it a number of times, it yelped but kept coming back. Obviously he had no control over this dog.

On the return trip we saw a few more shepherds who take care of cows, sheep, goats and donkeys depending on what the family owns. This is another area where the major crime is livestock theft. The animals are stolen and then taken to South Africa where the local Lesotho people cannot get them back.

Once we got back to the school we got in the van and drove back to the border. While we were checking out of Lesthoto we met a couple of the local tribesmen who were riding horses. Then we checked back into South Africa and drove for two hours back to the hostel, where Jay had prepared us a great South African meal of stew, spinach and a cooked concoction of vegetables and cabbage.

Then I went to the bar and checked e-mails where Chris told me that they had found mom's car (which had been stolen a couple of weeks ago) on the very day they were supposed to pick up a new one. Now what?