Scenes around the village.
Shepherds taking it easy.
The local traditional healer.
The woman who made our meal.
Laundry.
A young sheperd who was watching his sheep while hiding in the cave from the drizzle.
Tuesday, December 5th.
Nathan and I were both up by 5. We
could hear rain on the roof. We were told that it was supposed to
rain, but obviously we were hoping it wouldn't. Luckily it didn't
amount to much. We went and had breakfast and then got organized for
our hike. We were offered two hikes. One was a challenging hike up
through a steep gorge onto the top of the Drakensberg mountains and
then down again on the other side using chains. The other hike was
through a remote village in Lesotho. Nathan and I opted for the
village as we wanted to see the culture. We had been told that the
people lived a very primitive life and were pastoralists.
We met our guide/driver and the whole
group of fifteen people. There are five from our Intrepid group and
ten others, mostly young girls from various places in Europe.
Thankfully the rain had stopped but the sky remained grey and
ominous. We drove for over two hours to get to a remote border
crossing into Lesotho. The border is high up one of the Drakensberg
mountains and had an amazing view. We had to use our passports to
check out of South Africa. Then we got back in the van and drove
about a kilometre to the Lesotho border which is right at a small
river which separates the two countries. We had to get out again and
get stamped into Lesotho. Right after that the road turned into an
very bumpy dirt road and it was very obvious we had driven into a
third world country.
This is one of the poorest countries in
the world. It is the highest country because it has the highest low
point of any country. It is called the Mountain Kingdom. It has a
monarchy which has limited power. There is a democratically elected
government. The population is about 1.2 million people and 75% of
them have no electricity. The country is Christian but many people
also practise pagan beliefs. The people are 'ancestrialists' as the
believe that they can communicate with their ancestors who care and
guide them in their lives and help them make decisions. That is why
the people still build the round rondaval houses, as this is where
they contact their ancestors.
We drove to a small very basic school
that had five classrooms for kids up to grade seven. The hostel we
are staying in has helped to fund the building of the newest
classroom. Unfortunately the students were out for the summer but we
met a one of the teachers who gave us some information. He told us
that going to school is compulsorybut many students don't finish
grade seven. And only 35% of the students go to high school, because
the school is a two hour walk away and only the primary school is
free the high school is not. Most of the families are too poor to
afford the $80 to send their child to high school. We sat at the
desks in a very basic class, and on the desk was the final exam. I
read it (and photographed it) as it contained 50 multiple choice
questions. By our standards the questions were very easy for grade
seven. I will share it with my teacher friends later.
Then we began our hike. We walked about
eleven kilometres through the village and up to a series of caves. We
saw many local people and shepherds as they went about their daily
lives. Many of the shepherds are young boys. They dress in blankets
and woollen hats even in the rain. We visited a local healer and sat
in his rondaval as he told us how he came to become one and how he
can help people. He cannot cure major illnesses but he can take care
of some complaints and personal problems.
After that we walked to another
rondaval where we met a local woman who had prepared the local dish
for us. It consisted of 'pap' which is cornmeal made into something
like porridge, and a stewed spinach and vegetable dish. This
apparently is their staple diet three times a day. They are mostly
vegetarian and only eat meat once or twice a month.
When we left there it began to drizzle
and we put on our rain gear. We walked up the side of the mountain to
a couple of caves, one of which had some rock art created by the
bushman and dating back about five thousand years. We ate our
supplied egg salad sandwich here. We had been followed by a local dog
that made himself a nuisance when we ate. None of us wanted to pet
him or get bitten by him, especially in this really remote area. I
told the guide to get rid of the dog and he tried to get it to go,
but it would not, so he hit it a number of times, it yelped but kept
coming back. Obviously he had no control over this dog.
On the return trip we saw a few more
shepherds who take care of cows, sheep, goats and donkeys depending
on what the family owns. This is another area where the major crime
is livestock theft. The animals are stolen and then taken to South
Africa where the local Lesotho people cannot get them back.
Once we got back to the school we got
in the van and drove back to the border. While we were checking out
of Lesthoto we met a couple of the local tribesmen who were riding
horses. Then we checked back into South Africa and drove for two
hours back to the hostel, where Jay had prepared us a great South
African meal of stew, spinach and a cooked concoction of vegetables
and cabbage.
Then I went to the bar and checked
e-mails where Chris told me that they had found mom's car (which had
been stolen a couple of weeks ago) on the very day they were supposed
to pick up a new one. Now what?
Welcome back Joe This was quite a hike
ReplyDeleteThe Healer you visited looked to be the happiest in the area