A beautiful day in the mountains

At first I was a little disappointed to hear that we were not going to church this morning as i really enjoyed it last week but a day up at Mohale Dam (right up in the mountains) was the order of the day and I was only too happy to be invited along.

each village has its own donkey!

beautiful flowers on the moun

I had travelled the road twice before, once in 2007 when it was an unmade track and again in 2009 when it had been properly built and I knew it was going to be a great day.  This is my favourite part of Lesotho, the real rural heart of the country where cattle, sheep, donkeys and children roam the countryside freely.  This is the place where women carry babies on their backs while working in the fields and where they walk for miles carrying water and heavy packs on their head.  I was not disappointed - today I saw it all.  We saw loads of Rondevals, the basotho round houses, donkeys carrying heavy loads and real basic life in Lesotho. 

The people that live in the mountains have probably never seen a computer or even a tv. They live a simple and uncomplicated life, walking miles to get to the nearest house sometimes let alone a shop.  Corn is grown on every available piece of land even in places where you would think it would be impossible to harvest.  Shepherd boys, straight out the pages of the bible, walk their sheep miles to find fresh grass and everywhere are rivers and waterfalls and because it is the summer, beautiful flowers growing wild on the mountain side.  To take my photo I had to climb up the lower slopes of the mountain which i did by clutching at clumps of grass!  There was no way down so I just slide!  Got lovely grubby knees in the process - it was worth it though.  Bryan's dad is now convinced that this quiet English girl is completely crazy!!!!! (Yes i have been quiet sometimes but less so now that I have been here 2 weeks!!!)

Lesotho has the highest low point of anywhere in the world and up at the dam we were at 2700 metres. The air is thin, you are out of breath walking up a hill but it is so so beautiful.

mary, Ken(Bryan's parents), Bryan,Laury
and me at the Dam

The dam was built to provide electricity for Lesotho and South Africa and water from here is pumped miles and miles through underground tunnels. The engineering feat is amazing and you wonder how it happened in such an under developed country but it was a joint project with the South African government. Water is pumped from here as far up as Johannesburg in the North - a 5 hour drive away as water is short in the North of South AFrica.

picnic time!

enjoying the rain in the river!

There is no shortage of rain here - the dam is 98.5% full at the moment and we were shown right down one of the tunnels  under which run the valves which regulate the water flow into the local rivers.  As we stopped for our picnic we saw rain clouds approaching and heard thunder. Fortunately we got back to the car in time to avoid getting caught in the deluge. 

We stopped at a river on the way down (it was the same one that we had stopped at in 2007 for a call of nature) and would have paddled had we worn flip flops and the rain was not pouring down.  I stood on the rocky river bed and enjoyed a cooling shower of rain.  The American ladies i was with were feeliing slightly chilly but as I explained - this is just like an English summers day!  We soon dried off in the back of the landrover as we continued down the mountainside.

panoramic view of the Mountains - a picture just doesn't capture its beauty

Every window we looked through had a 360 degree vista of  beauty and grandeur.  This dam is on route to my favourite place in Lesotho - a village called Mantsonyane and as long as there is no snow and ice in August, I will be making a trip there with the group when we visit.  There was a photo of the dam in the snow last July and it looked pretty spectacular but with hairpin bends and very steep roads it would not be a place to tackle in the ice!

I had many happy memories of driving cars up there in previous years and despite its now familiar scences it never fails to impress me.  There are many passes to drive through with beautiful names - Bushmans Pass and Blue Mountain Pass but my favourite and by far the most descriptive is 'God help me' Pass. I can't wait to take others here and share with them what makes Lesotho so special for me.

It was a great day for which I thank Bryan for taking the day out, having just got back from a week away,  to take me and his parents up to this beautiful place.

I cannot believe that this time next week i will be back in Cape Town and much as I am looking forward to being there again, it will be hard to leave Beautiful GAte. I have a busy week ahead - am going into pre-school tomorrow and then on Thursday I am going to spend the morning in an International School in Maseru. I have much I want to see and do and achieve this week and I think we are going away on Friday afternoon for a night to hike to some waterfalls again in the mountains so that will be a perfect end to an amazing 3 weeks here in Lesotho.

An early night calls so I can give of my best to the children and staff here in my final week.

Thank you for reading my meanderings and for sharing this journey with me.      Jenny x