Lesotho,
It is a country that I have wanted to visit since I first bought a dual sport bike in 2006. In 2007, myself and Kawasefi did a day ride from Harrismith to Sani Top and back. I loved it. It was only my 3rd ride on dirt on my then 650GS. I was nervous as hell, but promised myself that I will be back to ride Lesotho properly.
The Bash in Fouriesburg, coupled with a long week-end, granted me the ideal opportunity to take some much needed leave from work and so the planning started. I slammed together a route with some research on past ride reports, mainly Metaljockey’s “Camel Man trip”, Michnus and Kaboef’s “Fog Me trip” and a report done by Carnivore where they did Matabeng Pass, and also some valuable input from SGB and Shark_za. Thanks guys!
I posted the “planning” for the trip and I wanted some guys to join me, only “kobusb” showed interest, and he was also going to the bash, so we would meet up there and sort the final things out. As things go at a bash, we partied waaaay to hard and when our Sunday morning departure time came, none of us were feeling like riding to much, the tunnels were on the menu as well and I did not want to miss out on that ride. So we decided we will leave one day later and alter the route a bit to make up the one day.
Monday morning came and I was ready to rock and roll, unfortunately Kobus was now out of action due to an upset stomach. What to do, what to do?? I was unsure of doing the trip solo, should I just abandon ship now and go home and relax the week, or should I head to Katse, and then just ride to Sani. I decided I will ride to Katse and then make up my mind as to what to do.
The road to Katse is flippen beautiful. It was very overcast and I could not see the top of the mountain through the clouds. This made me even more nervous. I am a seriously kark rider on tar twisties on good days, now I am on knobblies, in the wet, on this bloody steep pass with these moerse tight twisties. I was very nervous and took things very easy.
Some pics on the way up the pass:
Here it is still nice and dry:
Man, I like this bike, I love this picture as well
See, I did attend the BASH
As I went higher and higher I saw that the mist is getting thicker and thicker, the wind was also picking up heavily. This did not sit to well with me in the confidence department.
I finally made it to the top. The mist was very thick and it was bloody freezing with the wind pumping.
But the gods were having mercy (or pity) on me, as about 1km from here, as you start to descend, the mist was behind me and I could see the entire Mountain Kingdom lying before me. What a sight. No matter how many pics you take or how well you try to describe the beauty of Lesotho, you will always fail to bring across how vast and how massive these mountains are, it is truly breathtaking.
I started to descend towards the dam, and as you exit Ha-Lejone, you are right next to the dam
After crossing over the bridge, you go up another pass and this is the view back towards the dam:
A little further on, you crest another pass with a fuel station at the top. I stopped to fill up with Super as they do not stock unleaded.
I finally arrived at Katse Lodge and got myself a reward for all my efforts:
I grabbed a Cheese Burger and Chips for lunch and as I was munching away, I saw this coming in:
It was pissing down in 5min. And I mean really bucketing down. There was no way I am going to go any further in that rain! So I booked a place to sleep and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon.
When the rain stopped, late afternoon, I took a ride to the wall. The thing is HUGE.
To give you an idea of the size, check the people working there.
Took a pretty picture of my bike as well
Went back to the lodge for a beautiful sunset
Notice the “taxi’ taking people across the dam after work.
Not a bad day to start the trip, and as I went to bed, I was still not sure what to do tomorrow. Should I go to Sani via Mokhotlong, or should I go south towards Sehonghong and Matabeng?
It is a country that I have wanted to visit since I first bought a dual sport bike in 2006. In 2007, myself and Kawasefi did a day ride from Harrismith to Sani Top and back. I loved it. It was only my 3rd ride on dirt on my then 650GS. I was nervous as hell, but promised myself that I will be back to ride Lesotho properly.
The Bash in Fouriesburg, coupled with a long week-end, granted me the ideal opportunity to take some much needed leave from work and so the planning started. I slammed together a route with some research on past ride reports, mainly Metaljockey’s “Camel Man trip”, Michnus and Kaboef’s “Fog Me trip” and a report done by Carnivore where they did Matabeng Pass, and also some valuable input from SGB and Shark_za. Thanks guys!
I posted the “planning” for the trip and I wanted some guys to join me, only “kobusb” showed interest, and he was also going to the bash, so we would meet up there and sort the final things out. As things go at a bash, we partied waaaay to hard and when our Sunday morning departure time came, none of us were feeling like riding to much, the tunnels were on the menu as well and I did not want to miss out on that ride. So we decided we will leave one day later and alter the route a bit to make up the one day.
Monday morning came and I was ready to rock and roll, unfortunately Kobus was now out of action due to an upset stomach. What to do, what to do?? I was unsure of doing the trip solo, should I just abandon ship now and go home and relax the week, or should I head to Katse, and then just ride to Sani. I decided I will ride to Katse and then make up my mind as to what to do.
The road to Katse is flippen beautiful. It was very overcast and I could not see the top of the mountain through the clouds. This made me even more nervous. I am a seriously kark rider on tar twisties on good days, now I am on knobblies, in the wet, on this bloody steep pass with these moerse tight twisties. I was very nervous and took things very easy.
Some pics on the way up the pass:
Here it is still nice and dry:
Man, I like this bike, I love this picture as well
See, I did attend the BASH
As I went higher and higher I saw that the mist is getting thicker and thicker, the wind was also picking up heavily. This did not sit to well with me in the confidence department.
I finally made it to the top. The mist was very thick and it was bloody freezing with the wind pumping.
But the gods were having mercy (or pity) on me, as about 1km from here, as you start to descend, the mist was behind me and I could see the entire Mountain Kingdom lying before me. What a sight. No matter how many pics you take or how well you try to describe the beauty of Lesotho, you will always fail to bring across how vast and how massive these mountains are, it is truly breathtaking.
I started to descend towards the dam, and as you exit Ha-Lejone, you are right next to the dam
After crossing over the bridge, you go up another pass and this is the view back towards the dam:
A little further on, you crest another pass with a fuel station at the top. I stopped to fill up with Super as they do not stock unleaded.
I finally arrived at Katse Lodge and got myself a reward for all my efforts:
I grabbed a Cheese Burger and Chips for lunch and as I was munching away, I saw this coming in:
It was pissing down in 5min. And I mean really bucketing down. There was no way I am going to go any further in that rain! So I booked a place to sleep and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon.
When the rain stopped, late afternoon, I took a ride to the wall. The thing is HUGE.
To give you an idea of the size, check the people working there.
Took a pretty picture of my bike as well
Went back to the lodge for a beautiful sunset
Notice the “taxi’ taking people across the dam after work.
Not a bad day to start the trip, and as I went to bed, I was still not sure what to do tomorrow. Should I go to Sani via Mokhotlong, or should I go south towards Sehonghong and Matabeng?
