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| Gates of Paradise Pass, Lesotho |
My trip to Malealea, a small village in the west of Lesotho, was really
exciting. Malealea is on the other side of a pass with the great name
"Gates of Paradise Pass". The pass is on 2001 meters altitude. Well, I
did not think of any problem, as this is a country with the lowest point
on 1600 meters. But this pass was a rather demanding one - on both
sides! And there was a really bad road on both sides of the pass -
altogether seven kilometers. It took me 50 minutes to cover these seven
kilometers!!!! The road was bad, and, moreover, it was also pretty
narrow!
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| Road to Malealea, Lesotho |
Once, I had to drive very close to the edge, as a lorry came
from the other side. So, I went too far left and my left back tire went
into nothing... Thank god, the truck driver who caused all that,
realized the problem, got out of his lorry and lifted me and my little
car
again on the street. By hand!
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| Malealea, Lesotho |
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| Malealea Lodge, Lesotho |
Malealea is well worth the trip. An absolute dream. A valley,
enclosed by mountains, everywhere fields on terraces. Violet blossoming
peach-trees, many cactus, small round huts, cattle, horses, donkeys,
The Malealea Lodge exists since many years and
the owner Mick has already won several prices. This is absolutely right
- the whole village is involved in the lodge. Men and male teenagers
work as guides; women produce all sorts of things for the souvenir shop
or work as cooks, in the service or in the laundry. There is also pony
trekking managed by the villagers. The guides get a small salary from
the lodge; the bigger
part of their salary goes to the Malealea trust, which is used for the
whole village. There are workshops on very different topics -
sustainability, skills development, language courses, tree planting or
building of schools.
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| Malealea, Lesotho |
All that in wonderful surroundings! Definitively a place for falling in love with!
On my trip I came across quite some places, which have been difficult to leave again. Same kind of thing with Malealea.
But
I after a couple of days I had to continue my travels. For sure, there
was again the bad road and the pass, but again my small car mastered all
that without bigger problems (at the end I have driven 7090 kilometers
without a single breakdown!).
pigs, goats - AND the most charming people in Southern Africa. Everybody
has time for a little chat, women like to explain, how they make these
beautiful bowls of grass, men like to pose high on their horses for
tourists and their cameras and the local children loved simply all
strangers passing by. But I after a couple of days I had to continue my travels. For sure,
there was again the bad road and the pass, but again my small car
mastered all that without bigger problems (at the end I have driven 7090
kilometers without a single breakdown!).
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| Malealea, Lesotho |
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| Malealea, Lesotho |
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| Malealea, Lesotho |
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| Malealea, Lesotho |
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| Malealea, Lesotho |
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| Malealea, Lesotho |
