It started to rain in the middle of Tuesday night and it didn’t stop until about 8pm Wednesday so we had the pleasure of packing up and setting up again in the rain – not so much fun when you are still trying to work out the most efficient way to do it! The tent did not leak during the night thankfully, although the mattress did get a little wet whilst we were driving during the day as the cover was not on quite right, but it wasn’t a big issue.
Before we headed off we took a drive through the Golden Gate National Park. It was quite pretty and would have been lovely if the sun was shining. We even saw our first wildlife – some zebras.
We are now in Lesotho which is an absolutely beautiful country. There are huge green mountains everywhere with villages clinging to their sides. The typical house here
is a round stone hut with a thatch roof, not so warm when it snows I would think, Even driving in the rain all day yesterday with the mountains covered in mist you could still tell it was beautiful scenery. We climbed up to 3088m, needing 1st gear to make it up a lot of the inclines through the mist and rain with waterfalls running through the mountains everywhere.
We had our first vehicle issue yesterday whilst climbing the hills. Even in the cold and rain the engine was working so hard it overheated and then popped the radiator cap and we lost all the water. Not too big a deal as we have plenty of water on board to fill it again, but a bit of a nuisance when it is cold and raining.
Last night we camped at Katse Dam which cost us a whole 20R ($2.80). It has a great view of the dam wall and thankfully had a building where we could cook and stay out of the rain. It even had hot showers and a 24 hour security guard.
Today we have travelled along rough dirt roads, through villages and over mountains at probably an average of 30km/h and are camping at Molumbong Lodge. It has been a lovely relaxing day soaking up the scenery and I am very pleased it stopped raining and the sun is out. Some of the hills would have been a challenge if it was still raining!
Most people here wear a blanket either over their shoulders or wrapped around their waist and the men look like bandits on their horses wearing balaclavas with just
their eyes peeking out. The main form of transport here is walking, horses or donkeys. We have seen few cars and those that we have seen are either the minibus taxis you see everywhere in Africa or official vehicles such as the UN or government organisations.
We both feel like we are here in Africa at last today as we are now in the countryside.
