Lesotho, March 2016
The sun was just rising over the small village of Ha Moshebi. I opened the door of the stone house where I had slept and stepped into the cool morning air. Rarely in my life had I seen such a beautiful sunrise. The impressive landscape, consisting of deep ravines, mountains, and picturesque stone houses, shone in the dawn.
Besides, it was so quiet and peaceful. The only sounds I could hear came from a herd of cows. A little boy rode past a horse some distance away. He was wrapped in warm blankets and wore rubber boots. Curious, he looked at me from afar. Yes, you will not often see a Muzungu here.
In Ha Moshebi there were only a few houses. All stood a good distance apart and were connected only by narrow paths. Harry, who had slept in the next room, now woke up as well. He lived here.
To tell you how I met him, I have to back up a little. I used to do couchsurfing in South Africa with a man who lived not far from the Lesotho border. We had exchanged our travel stories.
He told me, among other things, that he had been hiking and fishing in Lesotho about a year ago. But then he got lost and had to sleep in a cave. The next day, as sent from heaven, Harry – a native, elderly gentleman – appeared in front of him.
Harry had invited him to his home. That is how the two got to know each other. And he said, that a friendship developed between them. Since I am very interested in these non-tourist areas, I immediately asked my host if it might be possible to visit Harry. He then talked to him, and Harry was extremely pleased.
So I did not hesitate long and wanted to visit him the next day. It did not turn out to be as easy as it sounds, because Harry really lived far away from any civilization. Public transport to get to his place is very irregular – not even daily. Finally, however, I arrived two days later without any incidents.
On that day in March, Harry and I wanted to start a two-day hike. Harry brought me a bowl of hot water. I could wash myself with that, he said. I was glad about that, because here in Lesotho it was really cold, especially at night!
After that we had breakfast together. When we were done, Harry jumped up and said he was going to search for a donkey to carry our baggage.
After about an hour he returned – without a donkey. He probably could not find any. But since we did not have much to carry, anyway, that did not bother me much.
So we left. We crossed many small mountain villages. These were not even connected by roads. There were only small walkways from one place to another. But no one had a car here, anyway. The most common means of transportation was the horse.
From time to time, we met locals who rode past us on horses, and we greeted each other in a friendly way. They were all wrapped in blankets, wore a woolen cap and mostly wore rubber boots. The men usually also held a wooden stick in their hands. Since it was not particularly warm in Lesotho and there was a lot of rain, this style of clothing was very practical. The meadows around us shone in a lush green.
On our way, we even briefly visited some friends of Harry. It was really a beautiful experience, as all of them received me very hospitably. A white, young woman was almost never seen here, so I was the ultimate attraction.
All of them wanted to cook the cornmeal mush and put hot tea on the table for me. In addition, they proudly showed me their stone dwellings. Next to it was usually a round mud hut with thatched roof, which served as a kitchen. About 100 meters from the house, there was also a wooden hut in which the outhouse was located.
Around noon, we passed the last village for today. Now we continued on a hilly landscape. It all seemed heavenly beautiful here. More and more, something like a canyon opened before us, in the middle of which a crystal-clear river meandered. From time to time, we encountered shepherds guarding their flocks. The area was so impressive that I could not stop wondering.
In the late afternoon, we came to a rocky ledge, which seemed like a perfect place to sleep. We decided to stay there. We could even find some straw, which we put under the sleeping bag as a mattress. Someone – probably a shepherd – had built a small stonewall here, which gave us protection against the wind that was sometimes quite strong.
Looking at the rock walls, I discovered something like a rock painting. It had a reddish color and seemed to represent cows and other animals. I called Harry and showed it to him. He said that it was already hundreds, if not thousands of years old and was made from a mixture of animal blood and mineral earth. That sounded really interesting.
Harry seemed to be quite tired. He rolled a small cigarette and relaxed a little. I found the area so exciting that I wanted to explore it. As I walked along the imposing rock walls, I discovered a ruin complex. Oh, how interesting would it be to know how old they were. Since I have a great interest in such ancient things – especially if the public has not discovered them – I climbed over the stonewalls and began to explore the ruins.
They mostly seemed to be really well preserved. It was too bad that I did not have my flashlight with me. Otherwise I would have climbed into one of the corridors. But since they were quite narrow and completely dark, I could not enter – I had too much fear of wild animals or maybe even snakes, which could seek refuge there. Who knows what dangerous things I could stumble on in this area?
My way led me down to the river over big stone blocks. After I had been sweating a lot on our hike, I could not resist a refreshing bath. I looked around me to see if anyone was watching. No, there did not seem to be a single soul around. Without further ado, I got rid of my clothes and jumped into the extremely refreshing, cool wet.
It was already dawning and getting really fresh. I quickly put my clothes back on and decided to climb the canyon. That was really exhausting because the canyon was pretty deep. Besides, I had to climb a decent way upwards.
At the top, I could not believe my eyes. I had the most paradisiacal view ever – I saw an imposing canyon, over which gigantic birds of prey orbited, lush green hills rising behind them, and the sky glowing blood red in the sunset.
I sat down on a stone and enjoyed this almost magical moment – somewhere in nowhere of Lesotho. It was one of those moments when I realized once again why I was traveling. There are still so many undiscovered, wonderful spots on this earth.
When I got back to Harry, he was already worried about me because it was already dark. He sat by the campfire and made soup. I really needed that, because my stomach was already growling properly.
The night was calm, with no rain and no storm. My sleeping bag had also served me well. Previously, I feared that I would be cold. The only thing that robbed my sleep was sudden serpent paranoia. I had probably thought too much about venomous snakes in Africa in the last few days.
In the end, some donkeys were giving me a real shock at night. When I woke up, the animals stood right in front of me and snorted loudly. I turned on my flashlight in panic and could only see their shining eyes in the dark. The horror was written all over my face. I screamed loudly for Harry. He woke up and started to laugh heartily.
The morning started cloudy and soon it started to rain slightly. We therefore decided not to make a big tour that day. We hiked along the canyon. Later we passed some stone houses. Since, by now, it was raining a lot more, we had to stay in houses again and again to avoid getting completely soaked.
It was too bad that this day was so rainy. When we got back to Harry's home in the late afternoon, we warmed ourselves with hot tea – what a treat!
I asked Harry if I could charge my phone somewhere. He explained to me that there was electricity in the village only via solar cells or generators. He himself had solar cells, but since there was no sun all day, there was no electricity. He suggested visiting the village pub, because they have a generator there.
It took us almost an hour to walk there. To my great misfortune, the generator was broken – well, this is once again only T.I.A. But Harry still seemed happy with our visit to the bar and quickly emptied a few bottles of beer.
When we got back home, we let the evening end comfortably and cooked. Of course, you can guess what it was: the cornmeal mush, which is very popular in Africa and called Papa here in Lesotho, with a small piece of chicken.
The following day, I already had to get up at four o'clock in the morning, because a bus to Qachas Nek – the next larger village – was supposed to drive at five o'clock. Harry was so nice and got up with me. He made me warm tea and water for washing. It was a freezing cold, rainy morning.
Harry walked up to the path where the bus was to pass. I had to wait an hour in the freezing cold for the minibus to arrive – although that was almost on time for African conditions. I said goodbye to Harry. He repeatedly emphasized that my family and I were always welcome here at his home. The experiences here in this small, remote paradise, I will probably never forget. And who knows, maybe I will really come back one day.
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