A long day of driving took us along the roads with amazing views, some rain, a picnic lunch and a crazy border crossing. We arrived at the border to the Kingdom of Lesotho in the early afternoon with huge rain clouds looming overhead. The line was extremely long. We were lucky to wait inside as a storm started raging as we waited. A few hours drive into the mountains and we arrived at the village of Malealea. We spent two nights in a lodge near the village and loved our entire experience there.
Our first morning in Lesotho we did a guided walk with a local through the village. We had the opportunity to see everyday life in Africa. The houses had no water and no electricity. One of our stops on the walk was at the home of the local beer maker. Robert even got a chance to sample it. We also visited the local elementary school and received a tour from one of the teachers. We weren’t able to see any of the students as they were on a week long break. The local people were gracious to share their lives with us.
We spent the afternoon on a five hour horseback ride into the mountains around the village. The five hour ride was a bit more than we needed but our group was excited to make the most of our time there. We happily went along. My horse had to be in the front of the line which made my ride a bit crazy. She would often start running or get upset if other horses tried to pass her. Our ride took us into the river bed and up to some of the viewpoints. We made two stops during the afternoon to see both the local waterfall and the cave paintings. Needless to say that after five hours on a horse our backsides were very sore!
On our last night in Lesotho, we had a special dinner from a local woman. She made dinner for all 19 of us. We carried our chairs and tables from the adventure truck to her shop in the village. After setting up they served us a dinner of chicken, pop and vegetables. The chicken was delicious!
We had to leave our awesome adventure in Lesotho behind. The drive took us across the border again and back into South Africa. This time the line was very small and no rain! Our destination was a one night stop in the historical town of Graff Reinet. The evening of our arrival, we went to desolation valley. Not much to see as you can imagine except for vast brown landscape and the sunset from the top of the mountain.
The next morning before our departure we took a walking tour through the historical downtown. Graff Reinet has been well preserved from the 1800s and many of the old homes have been turned into museums.
After leaving Graff Reinet we drove to Greater Addo Elephant National Park. We weren’t sure what to expect after we visited two other amazing places for game drives but we were so surprised. It was wonderful. We spent two days doing game drives in the park. The elephants were amazing and there were so many other animals to see as well. Here are a few sightings:
African internet is not what we hoped and have gotten a bit behind on our blogging. We will update again very soon with our final week of our African Adventure.
Some wonderful pictures! What a great adventure you are one. Stay safe and joyful you two!
Hi Jane, It’s great to hear from you. Thanks for being part of our journey. We are having a blast and trying to enjoy every moment. Hope you are having a wonderful autumn. It’s my favorite time of year!
What a lovely blog! The animals were gorgeous. The sleeping lion obviously cares not about the other animals. Oh it is so good to be king of the land! No a worry in sight! The elephants look slightly different in color than in Krueger? yes? Aren’t those birds beautiful?
The people seemed very peaceful. You said the chicken was good— What is Pop? It didn’t look like you had soda pop–but then why in the world would you? Love, MOMO
Hi Mom, Thanks for continuously following our blog and sending comments. We love to read them. Can’t wait to see you. Then you’ll be part of the blog too!