In late April 2000 12 Land Rovers from the Land Rover Owners Club of Southern Africa tackled an epic overland Lesotho adventure through the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. I was also there in my overland camper Lemon.
The route took us from Johannesburg in South Africa down to Himeville in Kwa Zulu Natal where the group assembled. We then started the Lesotho adventure at the foot of Sani Pass. We went to Linakeng for the first night then onto Khatse Dam for the second night and finally Oxbow for the last night. The next morning we exited at Fouriesburg and headed back home.
Sani Pass and New Freelanders
Sani Pass is a mountain pass located in the West of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on the road between Himeville, KwaZulu-Natal and Mokhotlong, Lesotho. It’s a world famous pass on many an overlanders bucketlist. The pass traverses the Great Escarpment of southern Africa in its highest region in the Drakensberg Mountains.
On this trip we had 2 of the recently launched Freelanders. One of them petrol and the other the diesel. It would be interesting to see how they performed
The route up Sani Pass starts at 1,544 metres (5,066 ft), and climbs over 1,332 m (4,370 ft) to an altitude of 2,876 m (9,436 ft). The pass lies between the border controls of both countries and is approximately 9 km in length
Lesotho is land locked by South Africa and is made up of many high mountain passes of over 3000 m each. The roads can be rough and the weather unpredictable.
The drive up Sani Pass was spectacular with a good but steep gravel surface with gradients up to 1:3, which can be difficult to drive in bad weather and may be covered with snow and ice in winter.
In Lesotho the roads go up or down but never flat. The major pass for the day was Kothisophola pass at a respectable 3240m
Lesotho Camping
The first nights wild camp next to the Linakaneng River was beautiful and remote.
But the next morning the grass was white with frost and the windows iced up a small taste of the Lesotho cold for a country that gets annual snow fall.
The second day our route went via Thaba Tseka, crossing the the Senque River with is the source of the Orange river and forms the border between South Africa and Namibia before flowing into the Atlantic ocean.
We spent another cool evening camped at the Khatse dam.
Everybody was impressed with how the recently launched Freelanders performed. They dis especially well on some of the rougher sections of the route over the 3277m high Rampais pass.
The last night was spend at Oxbow before departing Lesotho through Caledons Poort Border post. Once back in South Africa the convoy split up and everyone made their way back home at their own pace.
You can see the full video of this trip at The Overland Legend on YouTube
