How to get there:
This mountain is in Lesotho, the only country in the world with all its land above
1400 meter of elevation. The capital is Maseru and one may fly there
from Johannesburg in
South Africa. That is another interesting fact, the country borders South Africa all the way
around.
From Maseru, one must drive to Sani Lodge, this is a nice place located essentially on the east border
with South Africa. Access from the east is possible, but requires a 4WD vehicle. From Maseru to
Sani Lodge is about 7 hours of travel by car, depending a bit on traffic. It is a nice and scenic drive,
the second half across the high mountains in the east part of the country.
Sani Lodge offers nice accommodations, with breakfast and dinner. The lodge is located at the top edge
of a huge cliff with South Africa below.
They also claim to be the highest bar in Africa.
If one drives about 12 kilometer back on the road to Sani Lodge, you arrive at a high point
of the road with a sign for Thabana Ntlenyana. It is possible to exit the road here (small concrete ramp)
and park nearby. This is the trailhead, location S29.52166, E029.19071, elevation near 3250 meter.
Route description:
This route is quite long, 24 kilometer round-trip, but likely the shortest alternative.
Follow the road that serves the antenna installation nearby. Continue along a trail marked
with cairns. It will soon descend slightly, (downhill side to your left)
cross over a saddle then continue on the other
side, you will now have the downhill slope on your right hand side.
This pattern repeats as you again find your downhill side on the left, then finally you will
reach a saddle where a gentle slope extends downhill to
the bottom of a valley with a small
river. Aside from the initial (small) descent, the trail has been mostly horizontal all the way.
This is the first time one may look across to see the summit in the distance.
From here, the trail vanish, one should descend towards the valley, then keep right across
the lower mesa-like flat on your right, before a somewhat steeper descent passing a few
shepherds huts,
then reach the valley floor and the small river. Ascend on the other side, pretty
much directly uphill. When the terrain levels off, take a course a bit to the right of the
summit. This will intersect a (cairned) trail that comes up in the shallow valley that will
appear on your right hand side. Follow the trail as it contours the large
basin and arrives at
the small, rocky summit.
Comments:
We travelled by air from Cape Town via Johannesburg to Maseru in the morning, then
drove to Sani Lodge arriving there around 2000. Dinner was served and we soon rested
in our big beds equipped with hot water bags and a nice fire burning in the fireplace.
The next morning, we left around 0600 and were ready to hike by 0630. The sun was up
before we started, the day was indeed very nice. A pretty easy walk got us to the
summit in 3 hours. A local young shepherd boy
with 4 dogs soon joined us. We stayed
at the summit about 30 minutes, then walked back to the car in 3:10 hours. A short drive
brought us back to the lodge for a well deserved cold local beer.
The next day, we woke up late, had breakfast around 0800 and started driving back
to Maseru around 0900. Including a stop for lunch and some local traffic jams, back
at our reserved accommodation by 1700.
