"Mountain retreat" a Lesotho Travel Page by rslyons99

Lesotho is a charming and beautiful country completely surrounded by South Africa. During the Zulu wars in the 1820s there was a general unrest among African tribes in the eastern part of today's South Africa. A man named Moshoeshoe led about 4000 warriors into the mountains to escape the unrest, and they took refuge on Thaba Bosiu. Little did they know that they were forming the seeds of a new nation-state.

The warriors remained on Thaba Bosiu ('thaba" means mountain in Basutho) for four years. I added pictures and detail in my TB travelogue. Eventually they moved into the surrounding areas, but were always able to retreat to the passes when threatened, first by the Zulu unrest in the 1820s and then by invading Boer trekkers in the 1830s. The resulting national mythology is as strong as anything in the United States, Bolivia, etc.

Ultimately Lesotho stayed out of the South African federation for a variety of long-forgotten colonial reasons. Basically they secured home-rule protectorate status from London, which left them out of the Cape-run Union.

Today Lesotho is a very poor country whose economy depends highly on South Africa. The moutains are spectacular, people are friendly, and it is a great destination for tourists. English is not widely spoken, but I had no trouble getting around, and tossing out a few words of Sotho always got laughs and smiles. There are minibuses to all parts of the country, though you'll probably have to hike to some of the remote mountainous villages. And there are a fair number of tourist lodges scattered about as well.