The Mountain Kingdom - 305km

Thaba Bosiu withstood attacks by the Ngwane, Tlokwa, the army of Mzilikazi and Boer forces of the Orange Free State Republic. On 8 August 1865, during the Seqiti War, the Boer forces made an unsuccessful attempt to storm the mountain. In the second attack, on 15 August, Commandant Louw Wepener was shot dead while leading a group of men up the mountain slopes. The Boers were eventually forced to abandon their attempt, with the loss of 11 men killed, and a fruitless month-long siege followed. During the third Basotho War of 1867, when the Free State forces conquered virtually the entire Lowlands, Thaba Bosiu was the only fortress that remained invincible. Guides are available for walks to the summit, where Moshoeshoe’s two-roomed house and grave can be seen.

HA BAROANA

Ha Baroana, a name meaning ‘place of the little Bushmen’, is one of the best-known and most accessible rock painting sites in Lesotho. Depicted on the walls of the sandstone overhang are finely executed paintings of groups of dancers, hunters, human figures with decorative patterns on their legs, eland, hartebeest and a variety of other animals and birds. The site is often also referred to as Ha Khotso.

MOUNTAIN ROAD

Until the 1950s, access to the interior of Lesotho across the centre of the Maloti Mountains was limited to horseback. Construction of the Mountain Road linking Maseru to eastern Lesotho began in the 1950s, and by 1959 the road reached Mantsonyane, 127 km east of Maseru. The 47-km section of road to Thaba-Tseka was opened in 1969, and two years later the first trans-Maloti crossing became possible. The Front Range of the Maloti Mountains forms a formidable barrier, and the Bushman’s Pass is the first of several passes that have to be negotiated along the Mountain Road.

MOLIMO NTH--

Molimo Nthuse, a Sesotho name meaning ‘God help me’, is the second major pass along the Mountain Road. Nestling among a grove of poplar, plane and willow trees alongside a mountain stream near the base of the pass is the Molimo Nthuse Hotel. About 2km further on is the Basotho Pony Trekking Centre, established in the 1980s by the Irish government and the Lesotho Tourist Board to promote pony trekking in Lesotho.

BEYOND MOLIMO NTH--

...the road winds across the Blue Mountain Pass (2 620 m) and then passes the turnoff to Likalaneng, where the Mohale Dam is being built. The dam forms part of the massive Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which is designed to meet the water needs of South Africa’s densely populated and heavily industrialised Gauteng region. Still further on the road winds across the Likalaneng Pass and then reaches Marakabei, a small village deep in the mountains.

ROMA

Originally known as Mohale at Tloutle, Roma developed around the mission station established here in 1862 by the Roman Catholic Church. In time, the mission became known as Ba-Roma, or ‘the place of Roman Catholics’. Roma is an important educational centre and home to the National University of Lesotho, which had its beginnings as a Catholic college. Opened in April 1945 in a converted primary school, the institution later became known as the Pius XII College. In 1964 it was transformed into the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. Eleven years later, legislation was passed to convert the Roma campus into the National University of Lesotho.