Lesotho, Africa-Part 2

During our stay at the Maliba Resort in Lesotho, Africa, we went with a guide to do a community cultural tour of the local townships.  Mark and I had both done a cultural township tour in Soweto so I did not think it would be much different but once again I was surprised.

The level of poverty is strikingly different in Lesotho from where we have been in South Africa.  All of the homes were either made of clay or sticks and cow dung.  They all had thatched roofs and there were no bathrooms or electricity so it was more primitive in my opinion.

Our first stop was to see a village medicine woman.  Our guide had to first go and get her approval for us to visit then we were invited into her office.  Made of sticks and cow dung with a thatch roof it was very dark and a bit damp.  It had 3 chairs along one side and rugs piled up to be a bed on the other side.  Opposite the door was her medicine cabinet which consisted of tins filled with medicine made out of plants and animals.  The medicine woman did not speak any English so our guide translated everything.








We were informed that it is quite expensive to visit the medicine woman as most people have to pay with livestock.  Our guide said that people will come to here with all sorts of ailments and she will either rub the medicine on their skin, have them sniff it up their nose or will make small cuts into the joints of their body and rub medicine into the cuts.  We were told that medicine made out of animal parts is only rubbed on someone's skin and no longer put into their body via the joint cuts.

To be a village medicine woman/man we were told that you had to be of a particular ancestry, appear to the present village medicine woman/man in her/his dreams and then complete a 6 month apprenticeship under the present village medicine woman/man.  After this the government will issue you a license to practice.  We were told there are two types of medical doctors in Lesotho, the village doctor and the more westernized medical doctor.

This particular village medicine woman also happened to be a psychic and for R50 ($5) she would predict your future.  I figured when else am I going to have this experience so I gave my R50 and she started her magic.  A mat was rolled out and my money placed on top, then she gathered up 2 sea shells, 2 dominoes, 3 decorated goat bones, a cow tail bone, a goat tail bone, a bracelet, a Lesotho coin and shook them up in her hands.  Then the items were dropped onto the mat and sprinkled with a burnt plant.


The village medicine woman said that I get headaches that wrapped around my head, I used to work with men and woman and one particular man used to drive me crazy.  She predicted we were from another country but could afford to live here.  Also predicted was that we would have a very happy life, everyone would be healthy and we have a strong marriage.  The guide interpreted everything for us and kept asking me what I wanted to know but given the general predictions we had already received I did not hold much faith in correct answers to any of my questions.

Next we went to a shebeen which is a local pub.  It was divided into 2 buildings with the larger one on the right serving as the place the beer is made and the smaller one on the left is where everyone sits around, dances and drinks.



The beer takes 7 days to make and this woman uses large blue tubs, one for the process of making it and once complete it is dumped into the other tub.  If they are getting close to running out of the finished product, she will dump more sugar into the tub which is in the process of becoming beer to speed up the process.


A cup is used to scoop out the beer into customer's 1 liter cups.  The beer costs a whopping R5 (50 cents) for 1 liter.  It has a milky color to it, much thicker than regular beer and a bit of a sour taste.



We were greeted in the bar and oddly enough there was a kid younger than Grant in there with his mom.  Mark and I tasted the beer but I could only do a few sips and then we bought a few beers for the locals who let us join them.  We even stopped to take pictures with them as they were once again surprised to see Caucasians join the party.   I loved the Lesotho music and it was entertaining watching the locals dance.

The bar does have a license and is open 7 days a week but only until 8pm.  There are more westernized bars which sell your typical beer and even play American music.

Not the house we toured but an example of a typical Lesotho home
made out of sticks and dung with a thatch roof.

Our next stop was to see a traditional village home.  This one belonged to a single woman and was made out of clay.  The walls were about 24 inches wide from years of reapplying clay to maintain it.  The one room home had a table, a bed, a hutch and shelves to display her dishes.  There was a shallow hole in the ground which she used to cook her food.



 It was amazing to me how clean her home was.  Once again there was not any electricity or running water.  Outside she kept her chickens in a pin and even a turtle on a leash.  She has the most remarkable views from her home which ended our cultural tour.

Local school

We did not get to go into one of the local schools since it was Sunday but managed to capture these pictures.



All of the village kids ran to our car at each stop, greeting us and speaking very good English as that is what is taught in the schools.  Some asked for items and I wish I had known to bring candy along to pass out.  The kids were so friendly, talking to Adalyn and trying to pick up Grant.







On Monday we saw lots of kids walking along the highway as young as Adalyn, 5 years old, to get to school.  No such thing is a free school bus in this part of Africa.



This parade of children was of course mixed with lots of cows, goats, chickens, horses and sheep wandering along the highway that we had to dodge with our car.





We had a wonderful trip to Maliba Resort and I even sneaked in a 90 minute scrub and massage for only R600 ($60).  I love the spa prices in Africa so I rarely pass up the opportunity.

The only outing that we did not get to do was a trip to the local dam.  We attempted to find it during a 90 minute drive one morning but not unusual to Africa our GPS, nor the local's directions, or our own senses could find it.  At least there were breathtaking views all around us with the mountains.

Lesotho is one of the prettiest places we have been and I love the cultural aspects we could experience.  The country reminded me of Tanzania, Africa, in how it looked and how people lived.  I am glad to give our kids the experience to see their 5th country spanning over 3 continents.  I hope they get the travel bug like Mark and I have.

Lesotho, Africa-Part 1

In our travel quest to see as much as possible while we are living in South Africa, we decided to travel to the small country of Lesotho, Africa.  When I would tell local South Africans that we were going on vacation in Lesotho, most of them would say, "why?".  The chance to visit another country is not so easy when you live in America as it normally means a flight and the overall costs are higher.  Ultimately we figured "why not" cause we will not likely have another chance to see this country after we move from South Africa.   Located 5 hours from our home in Pretoria, we embarked on another family road trip to Maliba Resort in the Drakensburg mountains of Lesotho.

The street markets in Botha Bothe, Lesotho were just opening
and I am not sure about doing our grocery shopping here.

We planned out our drive to stop in Bethlehem on the way there to eat some lunch and stock up on groceries as we booked a self-catering house within the resort and they had mentioned that there is no place within Lesotho to get necessities so we needed to do that before we crossed the border.  After a small detour, because you can never fully trust the GPS, we found ourselves at the Lesotho border and quickly made our way through.  They were quite surprised to see American passports on the Lesotho side of customs.

They had more formal shops, including a KFC, but I am glad
we stocked up in South Africa.

After driving through the town of Botha Bothe which was a cultural experience all in itself, we made it along the winding mountain road to the National Park entrance where the resort was located.  We paid R80 ($8) to gain entrance into the park and also met with surprise that we were Americans. 











Our house in the resort was one of 4 along the river with 4 bedrooms and beautiful view of the mountains from our back balcony.  That afternoon we spent it playing in the river behind our house as Adalyn loves to explore for treasures.

The next morning we set out on the easiest hike the resort had which was 3.1km to a natural pool then another 3.2km back down the mountain.  The kids have done great in the past with hiking so we tried it again.  Adalyn loved seeing the animal foot prints and "using the map" to guide us.  We spent some time exploring the pool and had a snack.

We only saw 4 other people during our hike and
glad one could take a family photo for us.

We also had to wash up a bit in the pool as the dirt on the river bed hike to the pool was more like brown powdered sugar.  It would stick to your legs and seemed to get everywhere.  Strangely the hike on the other route back to the resort did not have this type of dirt.

 On the way back down we took the other trail which had some impressive views of the mountains.  Since you can't have an outing without some issue, Grant decided that for the last 1500 meters he was going to scream the whole way down and nothing could console him.  Adalyn also suddenly had a multitude of aliments that required us to stop every 50 meters to address whether she was going to make it, so dramatic she is.  Of course once we arrived back at the resort after hiking as fast as possible so the screaming could end, Grant was fine and happy once again, though Adalyn insisted she still needed about 4 band-aids.

During our hike we passed some of the resort's horses and the kids enjoyed petting them.  The next day on our shorter hike we set out to find the horses grazing along the mountain.  It was fun for the kids to just stop and listen for the horses then take off in that direction.  Luckily we could see them from the resort's balcony so we had a pretty good idea where they were.





The resort was lovely, fully done up in traditional African style and one would never guess that a 5 star resort exist there.







The staff were very accommodating and seemed to enjoy visiting with us.  They said the resort gets visitors from all over the world and they were normally full year long.  

In the winter, June and July, the mountains are covered in snow which I bet would be beautiful.

The resort also provided a guide that took us on a community cultural tour which is in the next blog.