Be sad, be very sad ...

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Lestutu

Pack Dog
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One of southern Africa's most iconic gravel travel tracks - Sani Pass via Kotisiphola to Mokhotlong - is being transformed at a rapid pace, courtesy of a Chinese road building team. Encamped near Mokhotlong, the team started from the point where the tar gives way to the gravel road heading east towards Sani Pass.
They're not wasting time and the forward digging party is already on Kotisiphola (Black Mountain Pass). The transformation is mind-blowing- the beautiful, narrow winding track is being cut, drilled and bulldozed into a highway!!
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Judging by the infrastructure over rivers and smaller water course, the surface is being prepped for a hard top. This road will link up with Sani Pass that probably means the pass is also heading for a hard surface.

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The Chinese are tough task masters. This chap wanted to know if I couldn't offer him a job, saying he works 6.30 am to 6.30 pm, and claiming he's paid ZAR2 000 per month. A demonstration of Chinese colonialism in action - all the earthmoving plant operators, foremen and supervisors are Chinese, living in the road camp near the Katse Dam turn-off from the Sani-Mokhotlong road.

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A South African contractor is blasting the switch backs wider on Sani Pass and will also cut drains before his contract ends in August. Complaining bitterly about the cold, saying the diesel often doesn't unfreeze till late morning.
   
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Note that access up and down Sani Pass is limited to before 11 am and after 3 pm when they're blasting. Also, expect to be delayed on the Lesotho side, especially now that progress is moving up Kotisiphola.
 

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