Most of southern subtropical Africa has a consistent winter dry season. We never saw a cloud in the sky from June 8-30 in Johannesburg, Victoria Falls, Botswana and Namibia. After a week in the Western Cape we returned to Johannesburg, renting a car and driving south toward Lesotho.
The town of Fouriesburg is obscured by the 2hr 30 min drive time box.
Johannesburg was cloudless but it became windy as we drove south. All last week every day’s forecast for Fouriesburg and Lesotho was sunny except for Monday, the day we planned to ski, which was forecast windy and high temp 35 vs. 50F the other days.
We saw occasional charred areas, presumably controlled burns of fallow farmland during the winter dry season. But with the wind this fire was out of control.
After dinner in Fouriesburg here’s the view of another one east of town.
Monday morning was not as windy as Sunday but it was cloudy in Lesotho.
Temps in the border area at 5,600 feet were in the 30’s but fell into the 20’s as we ascended. At 8,000 feet we encountered this scene.
Note in the second picture that two cars have placed rocks behind rear wheels to prevent sliding.
You northeasterners will laugh at this scene, but it was also hard to walk on this road. There was a very thin layer of ice, presumably from light rain and the overnight freeze. With the cloudiness, wind and depressed Monday high temperature, this situation was not likely to improve until Tuesday’s midday sun.
Someone there had driven down from Afriski and said that its T-bar had been closed due to wind since mid morning Sunday. There were many more steep hairpins farther up and only a relatively heavy vehicle with 4WD could get through. I inspected the rear of our rented SUV and saw just an axle, no rear differential. Is there any more oxymoronic vehicle than a 2WD SUV? I should have known better, as once in Europe they tried to rent us one and we insisted on 4WD there.
So we turned around, and with a now idle day checked out the Liphofong Cave in Lesotho.
The cave was formed by the stream but eventually its roof collapsed.
The claim to fame of Liphofong is the extensive 5,000 year old rock art of the original San (Bushmen) people of southern Africa, similar to aboriginal rock art in Australia.
I saw a smaller example in Zimbabwe’s Motopos Hills in 2002. Bantu Africans eventually limited the earlier San and Khoi (Hottentots) people to the Cape and the Kalahari.
There was also a spiral aloe, Lesotho’s national flower.
Not an uncommon sight driving in Lesotho:
Our situation was difficult as our flight home was scheduled 7PM Tuesday from Johannesburg, which is a 6 hour drive from Afriski. So back in South Africa we called United, waiting a full hour to get though. We were on a mileage ticket, but rescheduling to Thursday cost an extra 54,800 miles per person. There were some other benefits as the reschedule is via the 15 hour 40 minute nonstop to Newark instead of the 2 stopper Euro route. We also get refunded $143 in Euro airport fees.
I was vaguely aware of small private game reserves in South Africa, and so Googled “private game reserve near me.” I was pleasantly surprised to find Moolsmanhoek, only an hour from Fouriesburg though all of the drive north of R26 is unpaved. Moolsmanhoek’s safaris are on horseback, which I knew would appeal to Liz, who spent some time on horses while living in the DC area after college. Moolsmanhoek’s phone did not answer so we took a chance and drove out there. Monday’s weather in the area was still problematic.
We were able to spend Monday night at Moolsmanhoek and do a 2.5 hour horse safari Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon we returned to Fouriesburg to take another shot at Afriski Wednesday.
The town of Fouriesburg is obscured by the 2hr 30 min drive time box.
Johannesburg was cloudless but it became windy as we drove south. All last week every day’s forecast for Fouriesburg and Lesotho was sunny except for Monday, the day we planned to ski, which was forecast windy and high temp 35 vs. 50F the other days.
We saw occasional charred areas, presumably controlled burns of fallow farmland during the winter dry season. But with the wind this fire was out of control.
After dinner in Fouriesburg here’s the view of another one east of town.
Monday morning was not as windy as Sunday but it was cloudy in Lesotho.
Temps in the border area at 5,600 feet were in the 30’s but fell into the 20’s as we ascended. At 8,000 feet we encountered this scene.
Note in the second picture that two cars have placed rocks behind rear wheels to prevent sliding.
You northeasterners will laugh at this scene, but it was also hard to walk on this road. There was a very thin layer of ice, presumably from light rain and the overnight freeze. With the cloudiness, wind and depressed Monday high temperature, this situation was not likely to improve until Tuesday’s midday sun.
Someone there had driven down from Afriski and said that its T-bar had been closed due to wind since mid morning Sunday. There were many more steep hairpins farther up and only a relatively heavy vehicle with 4WD could get through. I inspected the rear of our rented SUV and saw just an axle, no rear differential. Is there any more oxymoronic vehicle than a 2WD SUV? I should have known better, as once in Europe they tried to rent us one and we insisted on 4WD there.
So we turned around, and with a now idle day checked out the Liphofong Cave in Lesotho.
The cave was formed by the stream but eventually its roof collapsed.
The claim to fame of Liphofong is the extensive 5,000 year old rock art of the original San (Bushmen) people of southern Africa, similar to aboriginal rock art in Australia.
I saw a smaller example in Zimbabwe’s Motopos Hills in 2002. Bantu Africans eventually limited the earlier San and Khoi (Hottentots) people to the Cape and the Kalahari.
There was also a spiral aloe, Lesotho’s national flower.
Not an uncommon sight driving in Lesotho:
Our situation was difficult as our flight home was scheduled 7PM Tuesday from Johannesburg, which is a 6 hour drive from Afriski. So back in South Africa we called United, waiting a full hour to get though. We were on a mileage ticket, but rescheduling to Thursday cost an extra 54,800 miles per person. There were some other benefits as the reschedule is via the 15 hour 40 minute nonstop to Newark instead of the 2 stopper Euro route. We also get refunded $143 in Euro airport fees.
I was vaguely aware of small private game reserves in South Africa, and so Googled “private game reserve near me.” I was pleasantly surprised to find Moolsmanhoek, only an hour from Fouriesburg though all of the drive north of R26 is unpaved. Moolsmanhoek’s safaris are on horseback, which I knew would appeal to Liz, who spent some time on horses while living in the DC area after college. Moolsmanhoek’s phone did not answer so we took a chance and drove out there. Monday’s weather in the area was still problematic.
We were able to spend Monday night at Moolsmanhoek and do a 2.5 hour horse safari Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon we returned to Fouriesburg to take another shot at Afriski Wednesday.
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