Lesotho Things to Do Tips by MikeAtSea

The Capital of Lesotho, Maseru is generally the first stop for most visitors. The City is being reconstructed after some of the shopping areas were burnt in 1998 and several other developments are taking place.
Maseru is the major gateway for travellers coming by air, and for drivers coming from Johannesburg and Bloemfontein, but it is also a pleasant base from which tourists can explore the Western and Northern attractions of Lesotho.
Maseru is a young but growing city. The site was first occupied as an administrative post by the British in 1869, and grew slowly from then. Many old buildings from early in the century can still be seen. Recent years have seen a greater degree of growth and modernisation and central Maseru is becoming dilapidated.
Maseru is a place to explore briefly, a place to stock up on supplies and deal with bureaucratic necessities - otherwise it is unlikely to detain the traveller for long.

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Directions: In the West of the country close to the South African border

The Sesotho name Butha-Buthe' (meaning place of lying down') derived from the mountain that dominates the town. The original Botha-Bothe mountain was the fortress of King Moshoeshoe until 1824, when he relocated to a new capital. Situated about 125 kilometres from Maseru in the north of the country, the colonial town was founded in 1884 to serve a government subdistrict because a local Basotho refused to travel to Hlotse to pay their taxes, since this area fell under a rival chief.
Butha-Buthe has pleasant, tree-lined streets, a hotel, community and administrative buildings, a market place, and a mosque for its significant Indian population. A large suburb known as Likileng has been constructed to provide accommodation for the workforce engaged on the tunnelling and hydropower components of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Butha-Buthe has an important role as a communications centre. It is also the starting point for the Roof of Africa Route past Oxbow to Mokhotlong, a road that has recently been under reconstruction.

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Directions: In the North of Maseru

The town of Hlotse, as its inhabitants know it, is commonly called Leribe, from the name of the district of which it is the headquarters. Hlotse was founded in 1876 when the resident magistrate and an Anglican missionary were given permission to build by the local chief. The small fort at the mission was constantly under Basotho attack during the Gun War of 1880 - Major Bell's Tower, part of the original fort, remains a landmark on the main street. In recent years, Hlotse has gained importance as the starting point for the Katse Dam road, which was renamed after Nelson Mandela when he visited the town in 1995.

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Mafeteng is an administrative and commercial centre about 76 kilometres south of Maseru. During the Gun War of 1880/81 a great deal of fighting took place near Mafeteng, which became a garrison town. The cemetery contains an obelisk to members of the Cape forces who fell in action in the area. Part of residency was used as a hospital.
Mafeteng and its surroundings played an important part in Lesotho's early literary history. At Ha Khojane, 10 kilometres west of the town, the first locally owned printing works was established in 1904. The newspaper, Naledi ea Lesotho, was printed there from 1904 onwards and despatched to subscribers all over southern Africa.

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Directions: South of Maseru

The Mapoteng area gained importance in the late 19th century when the Maloti for the first time became populated, and Mapoteng was a road head from which goods could be transported by pack animals into the interior.
By 1910 the area had gained importance by being the site of Dawson's Store and the seat of the ward chief Peete Lesaoana. Among claims to fame, Mapoteng was the birthplace of Josiel Lefela,a pioneer political activist. Mapoteng was chosen by the Seventh Day Adventist Church for the Maluti Hospital that opened in 1951, and it today boasts a well-known specialisation in eye diseases. The hospital with its attached nursing school is the largest single enterprise in Mapoteng.

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Directions: Close to the border to South Africa - and the Ficksburg area (Free State)

Maputsoe faces the Free State town of Ficksburg to which it is linked across the Mohokare River by a bridge originally built in 1906. The border post linking the two towns is the busiest crossing point between Lesotho and South Africa. Shortly after Independence, the Lesotho National Development Corporation chose Maputsoe
as the site for Lesotho's second industrial estate. By the early 1970s, a factory estate had been laid out with sites fully serviced by tarred roads, electricity, water and other services. Early industries included maize milling, furniture manufacture, electric light fittings, umbrellas, tractor assembly, shoes and clothing. It is the last of these, the manufacturing of clothes including jeans and leisure wear, that has subsequently become the most important industry. A second industrial estate has been established just west of the village of Ha Nyenye, two kilometres south of the original estate.

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Directions: In the West next to the South African border

The town of Mazenod was founded at Ha Paki, a village whose chief, Paki, was a son of Moshoeshoe's brother Paulus Mopeli. Mazenod (named after Eugene de Mazenod, founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate) rapidly became a main Catholic centre, with educational institutions, a printing works and a conference centre. The area's importance was enhanced in the 1980s by its choice as the site of the Moshoeshoe International Airport, opened in 1985. The airport has its own service centre and housing area, closely adjoining the terminal.

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Directions: Close to Maseru

Under the National Settlement Plan, Mohale's Hoek is regarded as the centre for the southern region consisting of the districts of Mafeteng, Mohale's Hoek and Quthing.
It is a pretty rural area which offers some hiking.

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Directions: 123 km outside Maseru

Situated about 290 kilometres from Maseru via Butha-Buthe, Mokhotlong is the district headquarters town of what was for long one of the remotest areas of the country. This has changed since a tarred road to Mokhotlong has been completed. However, in winter, Mokhotlong can be cut off for many weeks by snow. Founded as a police post, Mokhotlong is named after the river nearby of the same name. This in turn means the place of the bald ibis', a bird that can still be seen in flocks near the river (which is also well stocked with rainbow trout). Sani Pass connects Mokhotlong to KwaZulu-Natal.
This is a good area for walking and climbing, while in winter skiing is sometimes possible. There is a mountaineers' chalet just within the Lesotho border at the top of Sani Pass, from which it is possible on a long day's hike to ascend Thabana-Ntlenyana, the highest mountain in southern Africa.

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Directions: In the East of the Country

As the oldest town in Lesotho (having been founded in 1833 by pioneer French Protestant missionaries), Morija boasts many historical buildings. These include the oldest house in Lesotho (originally built in 1843 and now containing a craft centre), and a church, constructed from bricks fired from sheep dung.
During the second half of the 19th century Morija, as the educational centre of Lesotho, gained a number of important institutions, including Lesotho's first teacher training college.

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Directions: 40 km South of Maseru