Page 27 - Kyalami_Issue2_2022
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Kyalami Estates Corporate Brand Bible Design 26
3.0 Folder (Inner)
TRAVEL
Mark, Anthony, Sue, Joan, Gavin and Gill
area. Lesotho brews its own beer, Other activities at the resort
called Maluti, and we sampled a fair include snowboarding, a zip line, fly
number of varieties. Birds seen around fishing, mountain biking and hiking.
the lodge included Drakensberg Accommodation ranges from two
Rockjumper, Cape Bunting, Mountain bedroom timber chalets to four
Wheatear, Ground Woodpecker and bedroom apartments all overlooking
Drakensberg Siskin. Sloggert’s Ice the ski slopes. The resort was very
Rat, which is abundant in Southern quiet during our one-night stay, but the
Booted Eagle Lesotho, could be seen scurrying restaurant was quite busy as workers
around the grasslands in the vicinity of from the nearby diamond mine were
the lodge. there enjoying drinks from the well-
stocked bar and savouring their
From the Sani Mountain Lodge and delicious food.
for the next 50km to Mokhotlong,
the excellent Chinese-built road is The overnight temperature reached
a pleasure to drive on. Concrete below zero and, the next morning, our
drainage gullies run either side of the cars were covered in thick frost, so we
road and thousands of gabions line moved them into the sun in order to
the road thus reinforcing the many melt the frost from the windows.
steep cuts through the hillsides. Being
at an altitude of some 3 000m and From Afriski, the A1 road continues
consequently above the treeline, the through the Mahlasela Pass at an
landscape is rather bleak. Several altitude of 3 220m and, after some
Ground Woodpecker streams run through the area and 70km at high altitude, it winds its way
waterbirds seen included African Black down through many hairpin bends to
Duck and South African Shelduck. an altitude of 2 100m, whereupon
The road, labelled the A1, has a high trees are again noticeable. The terrain,
point of 3 240m, where one usually at this level, has many sandstone hills
takes the obligatory photo. The road similar to those found in the eastern
descends to around 2 400m in places Free State and residential areas
but then climbs back up to over can be seen alongside the road in
3 000m in altitude. contrast to the very sparsely populated
mountain areas.
Katsi Dam, the second-largest
concrete arch dam in Africa, is some At the town of Butha-Buthe, we turned
116km west of the A1 but the road off the A1 towards the border post at
to Katsi is extremely twisty and it can Caledonspoort where, without having
take nearly four hours to travel the to alight from the car, we had our
Drakensberg Rockjumper 116km to the dam wall, so we decided passports stamped on the Lesotho
to leave that for another trip. Birds side of the border. Passing through SA
seen as we continued on our way passport control on the Free State side
along the A1 included Bearded Vulture was also very quick and easy.
(Lammergeier), White-necked Raven,
Booted Eagle, Drakensberg Prinia and Plans are afoot to tar the remaining
Jackal Buzzard. steep section of the Sani Pass from
the SA border post to the summit in
Our next stopover was at the Afriski Lesotho, which will detract greatly
Mountain Resort just off the A1 at an from the adventure of driving up
altitude of over 3 000m. The skiing this iconic gravel pass into Lesotho.
season is open from June to the end of Nevertheless, the terrain in the
August and the resort has a beginners’ mountain kingdom of Lesotho offers
slope and a main ski slope both a unique driving experience and,
with adjacent ski lifts. Snow-making for birders, it’s an excellent place to
Sloggert's Ice Rat machines line the slopes, ensuring a observe those birds only found at
steady supply of snow on both slopes. higher altitudes.
Kyalami Estates • CONNECT • Issue 2 • 2022 25
