Have you ever seen Lesotho this beautiful?

[Losper]

The idea for this trip started a few weeks ago when @JonW mentioned that he wanted to do the traverse from Sehelabathebe to Sani on the eastern side of Lesotho.
Ride report here:https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=245243.0

That would only be a two day trip so we (@Twister and myself) thought let's make it a proper 5 day trip since that area of Lesotho is extremely remote and we don't get to explore there that often.
The trip started early the Friday morning, we trailered our bikes from Bloemfontein to Thaba Thaka where we would leave the bakkie and trailer until we return 5 days later.

The plan was as follows:
Day 1. Thaba Thaka to Thamathu lodge in Sehelabathebe (south of Lesotho)
Day 2. Explore the National park and then do an enduro route towards Ramatseliso and then meet up with @JonW and friends at Thamathu lodge.
Day 3. Ride the traverse from Sehelabathebe via Rhino peak to Sani top and then from there over the Thabana Ntlenyena mountain (at 3482m the highest mountain south of Kilimanjaro) and then from there to Mokhotlong.
Day 4. Explore the area between Mokhotlong and Letseng mine.
Day 5. Head back to Thaba Theka and try and do as much as possible sections inside the Senqu river.
 

 

[Wolzac]

:sip: thanks  :ricky:

 

[Losper]

Day 1: Thaba Theka via Matebeng pass to Thamathu lodge

We took a new unexplored route on the western side of the Senqu river all the way down to about 5 km south of Sehonghong. The plan was to try and cross thru the river and then continue to Matebeng pass. The river was unexpectedly high and after a few unsuccessful tries we headed north all along the river and crossed over at  the huge hanging bridge at Sehonghong. From there on to Matebeng pass. Now we have ridden this pass many many times over the last 10 years and every time we saw it in a worse state than before. This time was no exception and the northern side has been washed away in such a way that it would be almost impossible to do it on an adventure bike.
We got to the Chinese shop at around 5pm and filled the bikes with fuel and bought food for the night. From there it was a quick 10km to Thamathu lodge.

 

[Losper]

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[onderbroek]

sub

 

[m0lt3n]

volg!

 

[Matewis]

SUB

 

[Carrots]

:happy1:

 

[0012]

sub    :sip:

 

[ButtSlider]

Sub for this ride :sip: :ricky:

 

[stcomza]

Yip, SUB...

 

[Tabasco]

sub

Losper: can you get away on these routes with an unlicensed bike?
(or will Border control be the issue)

 

[Losper]

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Losper: can you get away on these routes with an unlicensed bike?
(or will Border control be the issue)

We trailered the bikes to a guest house in Lesotho, from there it was on gravel all the way(or like in this case very very deep in the mountains), so no problem.
If you cross the border with the bike then it has to be licenced. In our group all our 500's are licenced because we regularly cross the borders with them.

 

[Black_Hawk]

ek loer ook hier... dankie vir die deel sover  :thumleft:

 

[Dirt Junkie]

sub

 

[caconcepts]

River crossing could have been a bit tricky with all the rain of late....

 

[Tabasco]

sub
Losper: can you get away on these routes with an unlicensed bike?
(or will Border control be the issue)

We trailered the bikes to a guest house in Lesotho, from there it was on gravel all the way(or like in this case very very deep in the mountains), so no problem.
If you cross the border with the bike then it has to be licenced. In our group all our 500's are licenced because we regularly cross the borders with them.

:thumleft:

 

[Losper]

Day 2 Explore the National park and then do an enduro route towards Ramatseliso

After a quick breakfast and coffee we got on the bikes and headed up to the mountain to the cellphone tower. The views were stunning from up there and we followed an extremely steep downhill pass towards the Sehelabathebe National parks office to buy entrance tickets.
The park is most probably the most scenic area in the whole of Lesotho. We spend a good hour or two exploring the natural sandstone formations just east of the famous "Devils Knucles" mountains. From there we headed towards the waterfall and discovered an awesome single track over the mountains all the way to the Chinese shop for refreshments.
From there we headed west and joined an enduro track in Ramatselito's area. The Tsoelike river threw a number of very interesting river crossings our way and that kept us busy for the rest of the day. We returned to the Chinese shop to buy supper and back to Thamathu lodge.
The rest of the group (8 riders) joined up with us at Thamathu where we had a great braai the evening. 

 

[Losper]

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[TVB]

:sip:  :thumleft: