Date:     Mon, 12 Feb 2007 (delayed)

To:         touring@phred.org

From:    “Michael Ayers” <michael@terminalia.org>

Subject: Gondwana - Swiftly Looping through Swaziland and Lesotho

Sanibona/Lumalang Phreds,

Brief visits to the nations of Swaziland and Lesotho came near the end of the African Stage, countries that are geographically landlocked, but political islands amidst the sea of South Africa.

One of my aims on the Tour is to try to visit as many different countries as is practical, even if they are small ones. Swaziland and Lesotho are certainly that, the former being a little smaller than the U.S. state of New Jersey, and the later similar in size to Maryland. Size is not all that matters, of course, and both were very interesting in their own ways. They share slightly similar histories, as both had leaders during the colonial era who secured special status for their lands, thereby keeping them somewhat apart from the tangled web of misfortunes that captured the surrounding areas. Both are poor counties by World Bank-type standards, but their different historical paths have allowed them to retain some of their original culture, with Swaziland being one of the last African countries to maintain a true monarchy. Geographically, they are also more or less distinct from their neighbors. Swaziland consists of mid-sized mountains sloping down towards sea level at its eastern frontiers with Mozambique and South Africa, with a considerable amount of its area lightly modified by agriculture or settlement. Lesotho is entirely comprised of high altitude areas, with the minimum altitude in the nation still being over 1,400 meters, and with many tall, rugged mountains, giving it the nickname, the Kingdom in the Sky. However, its terrain has been almost entirely deforested over the years, which is an issue of great concern.

Swaziland came first on my route, though it almost didn’t happen at all.  It was on my original plan, but was cut out, along with some other areas, in order to meet my next planned sea transfer on time. However, after that vessel was cancelled, I finally worked out, the previous week when I was in Pretoria, a new plan that would get be to South America, but allow me an extra month in Africa. That meant I could restore my visit to the country as well as some other areas of South Africa, which was nice. I entered the country at the small southwestern border post of Sandlane, which involved a pleasingly quiet approach on both sides of the border.  From there it was an easy half day’s ride, through an area dominated by large tree plantations containing what appeared to me to be southern yellow pine, to the capital city, Mbabane. The city was quite small for a capital, but it was pleasant and filled with useful services. In fact, it appears to be a very young city, with few buildings looking older than 30 years, or so. I took a day off there for rest and some light errands, and it was a good place for that. One misfortunate aspect in the country today is that it apparently has the World’s highest rate of HIV/AIDS infections, which, according to the published information at least, is almost 40%. I had been interested to see what effect the epidemic has had on all of Africa, one of the World’s worst-affected regions. I’m still not sure I know the answer to that, as in many places I would have assumed that one way another, the illness would make its presence easily seen. However, apart from faded signs stating that AIDS is real, advertisements for condoms, and a handful of orphanages I saw in Zambia, there were few major consequences visible, at least for now. I would have assumed that in a place like Swaziland, where two out of every five people you see on the street are carrying the virus that there would be treatment centers of some sort, on virtually every street corner. At this point I still don’t know what to make of the whole issue, but it’s nice to think that the country, and the rest of the region for that matter, seems to be getting by despite the menace.

After leaving Mbabane, it only took another easy day and a half to make it through the rest of the country. I traveled towards the south east, through the busy commercial center of the country, Manzini. While the road connecting the capital to Manzini was a surprisingly busy high-speed highway, beyond there things quieted down again. There was some pleasant riding, though few significant towns as the road lost altitude heading back to South Africa, eventually reaching levels low enough to grow sugar cane. From there it was a short ride back to South Africa at the small border town of Lavumisa.

My visit to Lesotho came nine days later. With a reputation for being less developed but more scenic than Swaziland, I was really looking forward to getting there. It was somewhat difficult to come up with a route for the country, however. Most of the good roads, and all of the major towns, lay in a slightly lower and less mountainous plane that arcs around the west and south of the country. The best mountains are in the center of the country extending to the northern and eastern frontiers.  However, those areas are known for having very poor roads and few services. Near the end of the Stage as I was, I wasn’t really looking for anything too remote or potentially delaying. I chose to enter the country in the northwest, loop to the south and then east following the main highway that runs roughly parallel to the border, then head up into the mountains in the southeast for a short time before crossing back into South Africa. That would let me see most of the places that interested me, while minimizing the distance I would need to travel on gravel roads.

As it turned out, I missed the turn to the border crossing I had chosen, and had to ride in South Africa a further 50 kilometers to the south to the next one, at the hectic border town of Maputsoe. That was not particularly a big deal, though it cut my time in the country down by a few hours. That part of the country was the most populated and it was not very easy to find a campsite. The rest of the route was much better in that regard, though as it turned out, I didn’t camp as much as I wanted.  In the morning it was a fairly easy half day’s ride to the capital, Maseru, where I planned to take the next day off. More African in appearance than Mbabane, Maseru was nevertheless a pleasant enough capital city that was compact enough to walk to most of the useful places. Afternoon thunderstorms cut down on the amount of walking I actually did, however.

Leaving the city, the road to the southeast quickly entered a much quieter and scenic part of the country. Things were spaced out rather well there as well, with the two main towns, Mafeteng, and Mohale’s Hoek making nice break points. Neither was especially beautiful, but Mafeteng had a good supermarket, and Mohale’s Hoek had enough trees to produce a lot of shade, a commodity in short supply in Lesotho. I rode past there for a short distance and found a very nice campsite, leaving just a short ride the next day to my next rest stop.

That was at the small town of Quthing, also labeled Moyeni on some maps, which is picturesquely located above a very scenic river gorge. Services there were a little more basic, but I managed to locate a slightly shabby, but adequate, hotel. The rest of the day I just strolled around the town, and a short way up the road to have a look as some fossilized dinosaur footprints. This was just at the beginning of the climb into the highlands and I was expecting only another 40 kilometers of paved road before the gravel began. However, a fellow in town told me that the road was now fixed all the way to my destination the border town of Qacha’s Nek.

Certainly good news if it were true, because the terrain took quite a turn upwards from then on. Now heading to the northeast, the scenery became some of the best I’d seen in a while as the road ran along valleys and gorges of the surprisingly large Senqu River, which becomes the Orange River when it enters South Africa. The ride continued to climb very gradually past the little town of Mt. Moorosi, where there were a few local restaurants and small shops, and past the mountain of the same name. From there, it toughened up a bit, as a 950-m climb began. That brought me to an altitude of 2,450 meters, the highest I’d been since leaving Kilimanjaro. The scenery was still outstanding but as I reached the small town of Mphaki, a windy thunderstorm was closing in. I wanted to get closer to the border that evening, but it seemed better to wait out the storm. It did not let up until just before sunset, however, so I had to stay there, in a basic, but nice, rondavel-type lodge run by the local farm cooperative bureau.

The next day the Sun was back and I continued on to what I thought might be a morning crossing back into South Africa. My map declined to indicate the distances from Quthing to Qacha’s Nek, and my estimate was on the low side, as usual. The terrain there was even more strenuous than the big climb the day before, rolling up and down at least six big hills. One thing was sure, I was definitely happy that what I was told was correct, for a change, and that the road was indeed newly improved all the way.  For, had it been gravel, I could have gotten through, but surely would have lost a day in the process. As it was, it was late in the afternoon by the time I reached Qacha’s Nek, which was a little livelier than I thought it might have been, but given that it is a border town, I wasn’t too surprised. There were a couple of small cafes there, and the usual outdoor market, but not much reason to hang around. Instead, I crossed back into South Africa and was welcomed by another really windy thunderstorm, this time including some infamous, and surprisingly painful golf-ball-sized hail.

I enjoyed these two small countries quite a bit. The people were very friendly, the riding conditions mostly good, the towns were useful, and the countryside quite beautiful. Though going there necessitated a somewhat longer route through the region, they made nice breaks from the rather different feel of South Africa. However, the larger neighbor of the two small nations was all that was left for my Africa Stage. Next time.

Ngiyabonga/Ke a leboha,

Mike

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The Tour of Gondwana

May 02005 - Oct 02007

http://www.terminalia.org/tour