South Africa and Lesotho Day 5: To Lesotho

“There is a border nearby … I must cross it!” I might have to ask that this be engraved on my tombstone. It is so me.

Anyway, here we are, having flown and driven across much of South Africa and into Lesotho, which is a mountain hideaway embedded entirely within South Africa.

We left Stellenbosch early this morning to make a 9am flight out of Cape Town. Here is a sunrise peek at Cape Town’s famous Table Mountain on our way to the airport.

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa · by Lisa Rozmyn

I had a window seat on the flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg; that gave me the opportunity to capture the many climates and landscapes along the way.

above Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

above Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa

above Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa

above Britstown, Northern Cape, South Africa

above Vredefort, Free State, South Africa

above Vereeniging, Gauteng, South Africa

above Germiston, Gauteng, South Africa

Something they don’t tell you when booking domestic flights within South Africa: When you connect from one flight to another, you have to exit security, collect your baggage, re-check it on the next flight, and then re-enter the secure area of the airport. That was … a little hair-raising. Thankfully, our flight into Johannesburg landed a bit early, so we were able to make it through on time.

Lisa had the window seat on our way to Bloemfontein. She captured a bit of the scenery along that route:

above Schoongezicht AH, Gauteng, South Africa · by Lisa Rozmyn

above Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa · by Lisa Rozmyn

It’s a bit more than an hour from Bloemfontein to the border crossing into Lesotho. Given that we were calling it close to nightfall by the time we started the journey, we chose to stop only once for photos along the way. A shame, because it was a truly beautiful landscape.

north of Botshabelo, Free State, South Africa

(In good news, we were able to drive fast along the way. For my North American friends, 120 in a red circle means speed limit 120 km/h or 75 mph.)

north of Botshabelo, Free State, South Africa

We arrived at our AirBNB well after dark, but we feel very much at home. Looking forward to exploring our surrounds tomorrow!

Casa Tumi, north of Makhalaneng, Lesotho