Lesotho

Lesotho-Kingdom of the sky

Country Profile

Lesotho, the "roof of Africa", is a mountain Kingdom as an enclave in South Africa. Since 1966, it is independent from Great Britain. After disagreements between the two largest political parties (at the end of the 1990s) is the stability now stabilized. It is still not very touristic.
Lesotho is known for its beautiful nature, fascinating Landscapes (as the only country in the world is not covered by the 1,000 m), spectacular, and the traditional way of life of the population. Lesotho is popular with mountaineers and hikers. Attractions which our clients found adventurous was horseback safaris, culture village, 4x4 routes, trails.
The people of Lesotho to live in small communities very isolated. The carriage was, until recently, especially with Basutoland ponies. By the construction of metalled roads, however, one can see this is becoming less and less.
But the pony-drawing remain one of the major attractions of this small country. Pony-drawing (even without driving experience) of one hour up to 6 days! The spectacular ships carry you along the most beautiful waterfalls, rock drawings of southern Africa, age old dinosaur tracks, teacher and magnificent villages by attractive exterior.

Geography

Lesotho is a small mountainous country situated towards the east of the Republic of South Africa and entirely encircled by it. There are two main mountain ranges: the Drakensberg, which has the highest mountain in southern Africa, and the Maluti. The capital, Maseru, is situated in the lowlands in the west of the country where most of the arable land and 70% of the population are concentrated: only 13% of the country is cultivable and population pressure is acute. The climate is temperate, with well-marked seasons. But the climate in the eastern half of the country is bleak. Snow falls frequently in the highlands during the winter. Hail storms can occur in all regions during the summer

Money Matters Currency Information

The unit of currency is the loti (M - plural maloti), which is divided into 100 lisenti. The loti is equivalent to the South African rand, which is also accepted throughout Lesotho.

The Lesotho loti is pegged to the South African rand, which means that prices in Lesotho are similar to those in South Africa, though food is perhaps a little cheaper.

The main commercial banks in Lesotho are Standard Bank, Barclays Bank and Lesotho Development Bank. Branches are found in Maseru and main towns.

Contact

Phone: 0027 (0)72 140 8109

Language

Kingdom of Lesotho. Formerly Basutoland. 1,981,000. National or official languages: Southern Sotho, English. Literacy rate: 59%–74%. Immigrant languages: Afrikaans. Also includes languages of France, India, Pakistan. Information mainly from J. Bendor-Samuel and Hartell 1989. Blind population: 3,000 (1982 WCE). Deaf institutions: 1. The number of individual languages listed for Lesotho is 5. Of those, all are living languages.

Climate

Rainfall is variable and mean annual rainfall amounts to between 700 mm and 800 mm in most parts of the lowlands. Most of it falls between October and April, but there is normally no month which has less than 12 mm. Unfortunately river discharge statistics show that most of this water is lost to Lesotho in the form of run-off.
The deciding factors from an agricultural point are whether the rain comes in steady soaking showers at intervals suited to the growth of the staple crops or whether it comes in the form of short and heavy storms, running to waste and eroding the soil. Serious droughts have affected the country recently, and there is a large number of perennial streams, though not as many as existed some year ago. In the lowlands the temperatures vary from a maximum of 90' or more in summer to a minimum that rarely drops below 20' in winter. In the highlands the range is much wider and temperatures below zero are common.

Lesotho history in brief

By the time the 1960 District Council elections were held, the BCP was the best established political movement - but it was no longer alone. As moves were made to establish a Legislative Council in the late 1950s, division began to emerge in the BCP. As early as 1957, certain senior chiefs led by S S Matete, formed the Marerna Tiou Party (MTP). They feared that commoners would dominate the Legislative Council and that the Regent 'Mantsebo would relinquistallation of Constantinus Bereng Seeiso as Paramount Chief and Prince Bereng Seeiso was eventually installed as Moshoeshoe II in 1960.

Visa

For South Africa, you need a visa. You will receive it automatically and free of charge at the point of entry to your passport should. 6 weeks after you go back home. A visa is valid for 3 months and requires 2 blank pages in your Passport.

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