Trekking in Lesotho on Horseback

The adventure that I’ve been talking about for almost a year is now complete. Last week Jill and I spent 5 days riding on horseback through the mountains of Lesotho. We rode 7 to 10 hours a day through treacherous mountains and beautiful countryside. Here are Jill and I with our brave horses that took us up and down mountains, through rivers and to small villages more than a day’s ride from any road.





The first village that Jill and I rode into to spend the night was home to about 50 shepherds and farmers. Everyone lived in one of these round Basotho huts with rock walls on the outside, red mud on the inside and grass on the roof.





Within minutes of our arrival all the children in the village converged on our hut to point and giggle. So, I went outside and played games with them like tossing twigs up and down until all but one person had dropped their twig.



The actual horse trails would take the form of small winding paths, piles of boulders or just a few scratch marks on solid rock from horses that had passed over them. Sometimes we would even get off our horses and walk when we saw the hoof scratch marks sliding down particularly steep rock towards a valley below.







I would also get off and walk my horse a couple times a day to give us both a break.



On about the third day in the countryside we descended into a valley where a river speared out into a meadow below creating a swampy area. Jill, our guide and our pack horse all made it through the swamp just fine but my horse sunk into the mud all the way to its belly and then started bucking because it had sunk in so far that it couldn’t get out. Since I was being thrown up and down I quickly jumped off the horse and without my weight the horse was able to stumble out of the mud. Here’s a photo of me and the horse covered in mud.



For the next several days when my horse came to a muddy crossing I had to hold on tight because it would do a flying jump clear over the mud.

All in all the 5 days of riding days didn’t take much of a toll on our bodies. The first day we were a little sore but we quickly got used to being in the saddle and we really enjoyed seeing the beautiful country with rivers everywhere, several waterfalls and quite a few shepherds with their flocks.





In summary, the people of Lesotho are extremely kind and inviting. The country is beautiful and very safe to visit. After riding horse back for five days and living in huts both Jill and I were very sad to leave our guide and the villages behind for the faster passed world of Maseru, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and our next destination, Nelspruit on the border of Kruger National Park.

--Andrej