Trip report to Lesotho.
Starting on 27th April 2006 at Sani’s Pass and ending at 1st May 2006 at the Fouriesburg border post.
We were 5 motorbikes and three vehicles, thus a pretty long convoy and rather stretched out when travelling.
The first stretch from Sani’s Top Chalet was uneventful because the population there is very sparse. However as we got closer to little villages we were not very friendly received. Wherever we went, and I was for long stretches riding with a motorbike right at the back, we were pelted with stones which came from youngsters as young as 3 to 4 years old as well as the older kids in their teenager stages. I was stopped by a youngster on a pony before we reached the tar road to Mokhotlong and he very arrogantly demanded money and cigarettes. He also threatened me when I eventually pulled away with his whip.
One of the vehicles was indeed hit by a whip still before the Mokhotlong tar road.
We then turned off towards Mahoarne, Malingoaneng, Lehlabaneng Village and Makhuleng towards Katse Village.
All along this very rough road, thus travelling speed was not faster than 10 – 12 km/h , we were continuously harassed by kids demanding anything from sweets, money, tobacco and even cheese. When we did not oblige we were given some type of threatening attitude. At some places along the route some kids took rather large rocks and barricaded the road totally. This meant that we had to stop thus giving them a chance to approach us and beg while we had to move the rocks in order to proceed.
Because we did not do the planned speed we were forced to camp somewhere along the route. We approached the little village and a very friendly English speaking gentleman helped us to settle at a lovely place along the river. He also gave us permission to camp there. Again at the site we had kids begging all the time. We had however a very peaceful night and departed the next morning. I went back to the house of the gentleman, thanked him for the hospitality and paid him ZAR 220.00 since we were 11 people in the party.
About 500 meters away from the campsite we were forced to leave a motorbike because of a misfire. This place is 82 km away from the Katse village. We then proceeded and about 75 km away from Katse village we had another motorbike fail due to a rock hitting the sump and loosing all the oil. We also left this next to the road. We finally arrived at Katse village as you know pretty late.
On Sunday the 30th April we proceeded early in the morning to recover the two motorbikes. When we arrived at the first site no bike was found but pieces of the bike were strewn all over the place. One of us proceeded to walk to the nearest village where the totally trashed bike was found. Nobody “knew” how it got there. We offered one of the English speaking youths ZAR 200.00 if he could get the wreck to the road so that we could pick it up on our way back. We then proceeded to our overnight camping place where the other bike was standing. There we were greeted with a similar sight. The second bike was vandalised and set alight. While loading the wreck we noticed that NOBODY even came close to beg but all stayed on top of the mountain ridges. Even when I looked at the youths across the river they would all fall flat onto the ground so as to hide. When we came to the first bike location it was next to the road with basically all panels and spares and nobody there to claim his ZAR 200.00. We loaded the bike and finally were back at Katse village at 17:30. This was reported to the Police station at Katse on Monday the 1st May 2006. Case numbers can be supplied if needed.
Isolated cases???? I don’t know. Even along the tar road to the border post we were thrown at twice (and in this case even hit) by two more stones. We had a little toddler holding a long whip which I initially thought he wanted to sell, be used on one of the bikers who came along a while later.
All along our route we had to look into our mirrors in fear of somebody throwing something at us. Is this a holiday?? No, and are we going to come back so quickly??
A definite NO!!!!!
We did however see that most of the population was friendly, eagerly greeting us and even discouraging their peers to throw stones at us. Yes, being at the back gives you lots of time to observe. So it is not everybody who is so vicious but unfortunately it is the minority of the youth that have made our stay not very pleasant.
This was my first impression of Lesotho and it was quite a shock. Nowhere I have travelled in Southern Africa have I felt so threatened. This includes countries like Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Mozambique.
I am sure that if I speak to the rest of the group we could even come up with more incidences. This is what I saw and experienced.
Solutions:
Don’t go into Lesotho alone.
If your vehicle has a mechanical failure get it to the nearest Chief and ask him to look after the vehicle.
Take along another bakkie (not a trailer) to put any broken bikes onto the bakkie and do not leave anything next to the road.
I would not leave somebody at the stricken vehicle while arranging the recovery of the stranded vehicle at a later stage; I feel it is too dangerous to stay out in the sticks all alone.
Greetings
Claus Pille
+27 661 6591
+84 521 0419
