The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The tiny Kingdom of Lesotho

Back at the beginning of October, we had been in the city of Ottawa tourist office on the 18th floor of an office building in downtown Ottawa, Canada. Across the hall was the Embassy of the Kingdom of Lesotho.

We went and knocked on the door!

And they presented us with some pamphlets and pictures that showed what a beautiful country Lesotho is. We decided then and there that we wanted to visit this gorgeous country and it's friendly people!

Despite the fact that this little country is totally surrounded by the country of South Africa, it's people were never subjected to the apartheid government of it's very close neighbor. And it's an entirely different atmosphere.

There are only two million people here, and about half a million of them live within the greater area of the capital city of Maseru. The rest are very rural.

We're staying at a place called Malealea Lodge. It's a lot bigger than we expected, but it's the premier center in Lesotho for pony trekking and hiking in the beautiful mountains that make this country the highest country in the world!.

Yes, this tiny country has the highest low-point of any country in the world. 


They have peacocks here! I'll be keeping the camera ready for when they spread their feathers!

This is where we're living for the next few days. We're in the middle room.

Ever seen baby peacocks? We have!

Two of the rondoval room here at Malealea.

Ruth, enjoying the scenery.

The crops are all planted by hand. No machinery here, although they sometimes use oxen for plowing.

Wow.

The village of Malealea.

We haven't really been that many places in the world, but every now and then you come across a place where you say "I think I could live here". 

Lesotho.


38 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. The pictures don't do it justice though, it is somewhere that has to be seen in person.

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  2. I have great memories of this area - so gorgeous and have fun you two!

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    1. We too will have wonderful memories of this area.

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  3. I'm surprised you have access to the net. But glad for it. Nice scenery.
    And yes, there are places where you think, "I could live here."
    We certainly enjoyed the weather in Puerto Rico. Of course, every day was the same. The only thing was though, if either of us got sick, our "plan" was to get on the very next plane to Canada. Probably would have been with Air Canada, who have a direct flight from San Juan to TO. They like for you to "buy the plane" though, which was why we never flew with them normally.
    In terms of having the "whole package", I think the Netherlands would be at the top of the list. Just gets a little bleak in the winter though.

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    1. Well we sort of had internet access, it was really only good enough to check your emails but the odd time Kevin was able to get good enough service to post a blog or two but it literally took him hours to do it.

      Having spent 10 days there, we still could easily live here but only during the summer time.

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  4. Interesting that Lesotho is surrounded by South Africa. I will have to look up the history to find out how that came about. We never think of Africa having mountains either. What a surprise.

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    1. The internet is a wonderful thing for gathering information like this. We are finding out many surprising things about Africa that we didn't know before and one of them is that Africa has LOTS of mountains.

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  5. Looks like a great place to stay for a few days. I bought a pullover type sweatshirt and it had a label made in Lesotho. I thought it was a city in India, so I looked it up and found the country.
    PS I have been enjoying your trip.. Thanks

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    1. We certainly didn't have a hard time spending 10 days here and we still only saw a small part of this tiny country! Glad you are enjoying our trip.

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  6. WOW, great place for sure. i think if I wanted to live somewhere though, I would pick somewhere that was closer to an ocean. But that sure is a pretty place. What about bugs, are you bothered by bugs at all?

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    1. We like the ocean but we love the mountains! We seem to find way more to do in the mountains because we aren't much for just sitting on the beach. The bugs haven't been a problem except for some pesky house flies which don't bite but can be a little annoying at times.

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  7. This is worthy of an overwhelming W-O-W!!!! Incredible photos and hard to believe it is in Africa. Most of us think of Africa as dry and desert-like!!! Totally, totally amazing!!!

    (PS - Seeing Mary Pat tomorrow...we can hardly wait!!)

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    1. We have been learning lots from our travels in Namibia, South Africa and Lesotho and it is definitely different from what we pictured before adventuring here. Like North America, Africa is very different from the east to the west and from the north to the south. We are love learning about it all.

      Hope you had a great with with Mary-Pat!

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  8. You are truly blessed to be able to enjoy a trip that so many of us will never experience. Thanks for sharing your travels with us.

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    1. We do truly appreciate every minute of this trip and our experiences. A year ago it was still only a dream to us, we knew that one day we wanted to visit here but we just never thought it was going to come so soon. So glad that we are able to share our trip with you and our other readers.

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  9. Incredible. Love the pic of Ruth gazing at the mountains, and WOW really does express it all!

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    1. Thank you Dianne, the mountain scenery is breathtaking here!

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  10. Fantastic views! We are watching you....!! he he! Please just keep the posts coming.

    Just wonder how you get onto Internet in Lesotho...use the SA SIM card or local ones, or WIFI from the lodge?

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    1. The posts will keep coming, they just sometimes take a bit of time.

      We bought a new SIM card and some airtime but the signal strength is not very good, really most of the time it is good enough to check your email and reply to it. We much persistence Kevin has been able to post a few posts from our time here but the others will have to wait until we have better internet.

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  11. At least you won't have any marathon driving days to see the entire country! ;c)

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    1. Nope just a couple of marathon HIKING days! :-)

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  12. Any rving going on there? Wonderful scenery!

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    1. If you had a 4 X 4 camper van then you could get into Malealea Lodge and there was a small travel trailer with a high ground clearance at the lodge when we arrived, it would be difficult with anything much bigger though. They have camping here so that would be easy enough to do.

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  13. Speechless - it truly is beautiful there - and thanks for sharing!

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    1. We were pretty much speechless when we first arrived too!

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  14. Baby peacocks and peahens are called peachicks :)

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  15. I've been following your blog for several months now. I have really enjoyed it, but the pictures from Lesotho are just amazing. I have learned so much through your blog. So glad I found it. Thank you for sharing your adventures.

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    1. So happy to hear that you are enjoying our blog. We have been learning about Africa ourselves as we have been traveling through 3 of it's countries.

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  16. What beautiful scenery, I could see myself living there as well. Great pics Kevin.

    Cheers

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    1. John, I know both you and Dianne would love it here!

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