Things to Do
Lesotho offers a wide variety of exciting activities to travellers.
The emphasis is on the outdoors. The spectacular mountains and pristine natural vegetation protected within Ts'ehlanyane and Sehlabathebe National Parks are a major draw for keen hikers, birdwatchers and botanists.
Guided treks on hardy Basotho ponies - specially bred for traversing the high mountains – are another possibility in both these parks, as well as at the ever popular Malealea Lodge, which has been the kingdom’s premier horseback destination, hosting novice and experienced riders alike, since it was founded back in 1986.
Sensational Sani Top, at the summit of the legendary Sani Pass, is the starting point for peak-baggers hoping to scale the 3,482-metre summit of Thabana Ntlenyana - the highest point in Africa south of Kilimanjaro.
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For more dedicated hikers and pony trekkers, exciting multi-day routes include the 32km track connecting Bokong Nature Reserve and Ts’ehlanyane National Park via the so-called Roof of Africa, and a 40km escarpment footpath between Sani Top and Sehlabathebe National Park.
Other organised adventure activities include the world’s highest commercial abseil at Semonkong, seasonal skiing and snowboarding at Afriski Mountain Lodge, some challenging mountain biking routes at Afriski and Malealea, and paragliding and hang-gliding from the country’s plentiful cliffs. For keen 4x4 enthusiasts, there are a few genuinely wild back routes traversed by a mere handful of vehicles on a busy day, while the many streams and rivers that rise in the Lesotho highlands offer superb opportunities for fly-fishing.
Lesotho is studded with hundreds of al fresco rock art sites attributed to the San (Bushman) hunter-gatherers that thrived there prior to the arrival of the pastoral Basotho in the 19th century. The ancient rocks that characterise this highland kingdom are also adorned with several sets of dinosaur footprints, some dating back more than 200 million years. Other open-air historical sites include Thaba Bosiu, which served as the montane fortress of King Moshoeshoe I for almost 50 years prior to his death in 1870.
