As a part of my travels with BazBus, I stopped for a few days in the Northern Drakensberg, right on the border of the Kingdom of Lesotho. Together with some new made friends I signed up for day trip to the Amphitheater and the Worlds second highest waterfall, the Tuguela Falls, and for a day trip to Lesotho on another.
Trekking up to the amphitheater took a good four hours. On top we could stand on the edge seeing far into the Kingdom of Swaziland, which is separated from South Africa by the Drakensberg Mountains, where also JRR. Tolkien got his inspiration for the Lord of the Rings books. We could easily see why- the mountains were quite far reaching and magnificent. Just a short walk from the viewpoint we got to the Tuguela Falls, where unfortunately there was no water except an icy pool on top. Showing off some viking spirit I had break the ice to jump into the freezing cold water, and quickly got the heat back once we started walking the way down some 40 and 20 meter high free hanging chain ladders which was quite scary stuff!
On the trip to Lesotho we started off early driving up the steep mountain pass leading up the the highest country in the world. Once crossing the border, which didnt even have a border post on the Lesotho side, there were quite clear differences between how people lived compared to the other side. People were walking around, usually with sticks and woollen blankets wrapped around them and living in small mud huts. We got to visit a school, met a shaman, climbed some hills to see cave paintings and best of all we got to taste some local food and beer. We found the beer my stopping at a mud hut having a white flag (meaning beer for sale) and food at a mud hut having a red flag (meaning food for sale). Learning the basotho flag signalling systems and talking to some locals to hear how the daily life was quite interesting and well worth the trip.
