Lesotho to South Africa Border Crossing

Leaving Lesotho and Crossing into South Africa

Good day for this March 23rd. The first order of business was having breakfast, wrapping up my stay, and then making my way to the border, which wasn’t that far. The scenery was very significant — you just can’t make a picture of everything, but it was beautiful.

Leaving Lesotho was easy. Entering South Africa again, however, was a different story. They always need your original entry record, and of course, I had entered South Africa the first time on my emergency passport. Until I could supply that information, they were at a loss — where did I come in, when, and so on. Anyway, we got all that solved.

Passing Through Fouiesberg and Meeting Ben

The first town was Fouiesberg, just a little town that I pretty much passed through easily. Then I found a person who needed a ride — his name was Ben. He turned out to be from Lesotho and wanted to go to Harrismith, which was what I was thinking as well, but not necessarily today.

My main goal was to get a feel for Clarens, the next town after Fouiesberg. We ended up going there and Ben was happy to get out and try to find another ride.

Power Outage in Clarens

In town, I went to get more diesel, which turned into quite an interesting experience. While they were filling up the tank, the power went out and we weren’t quite done yet. I could have stopped and called it good, but I figured I’d see how it all played out.

I waited probably close to half an hour before it got sorted out. They ended up bringing in a generator to get the power back on so the pumps could work and they could determine how much I needed to pay.

I walked around a bit and went to a bakery, but the whole town was without power. They told me it wouldn’t be back on until about 4 that afternoon. There was a group having a tea party, so we didn’t bother them too much, but it kept my visit shorter than planned.

Picking Ben Back Up and a National Park Stop

Back on the road towards Harrismith — and guess what? Ben was still waiting for a ride. So I picked him back up. We didn’t have too much conversation since his English was somewhat limited, but it was enough to make it a good ride.

Before Harrismith, we ended up at a place where there was a lodge inside a national park. The scenery was beautiful, as you’d expect. Ben knew about a place to get coffee, and while it would have been nice to visit the lodge — which looked impressive from the outside — we didn’t get around to that. Still, it was a good coffee stop.

Traditional Lesotho Village Exhibit

Then we came across something I had read about — a village recreating how people used to live in Lesotho. We stopped there, and I paid for Ben to see the exhibit as well. It walked through the different stages of house building and was a really good thing to see.

I learned that men in Lesotho can have more than one wife — as many as 10. Mind-blowing as far as I’m concerned. They have the houses situated for each wife in certain locations. The current king of Lesotho, if I’m not mistaken, is the second of 67 children by the same father. When you have that many wives, I guess that’s doable, but it certainly makes you think. It was a really good thing to see.

Arriving in Harrismith

As we got close to Harrismith, I asked Ben if he knew of any places to stay. He pointed out a place near a Wimpy — a restaurant chain very common in South Africa. I told him to let me know where he wanted to be dropped off and I’d find the place afterwards, but he basically guided us straight to the Wimpy location.

It turned out to be an amazing shopping area, and with that came a place to stay for me. Ben got off there — he was living just up the hill from where we were. I had many choices for food, and the best part was a lamb pie. There’s some good food in South Africa, and it’s easy to get to.