This was the day we went to Sani Pass in Lesotho.  Lesotho is a high-altitude, landlocked kingdom encircled entirely by South Africa.  There are about 2 million people living in the country, most of whom live in extreme squalor.  They are ruled by a king who spends his time on the French Riviera.

The pass we go up is a great place to bird, however.

I think the little notch in the mountain is the pass.

It was a cool, overcast day which got progressively colder as we gained altitude.  We had 2 4×4 vehicles with 2 local guides who were very good.  We stopped frequently to find birds in places they had seen them recently.

There were lots of nice flowers along the way.

and this bird

Gurney’s Sugarbird

Yet another flower

Up a little higher to

this dirt road.

Sani Pass road was built starting in the 1920’s on a mule track by one man using a pick ax!  It was finally completed in the 50’s and at the end the government did step in with a little help.  We really needed those 4×4’s on the narrow switchbacks and the many boulders in the road.

Paintbrush Lily

Southern Rock Agama

Chacma Baboon

A little higher

Then we came to

We had to show our passports here but it was still a ways until we got to the actual border.

We saw some more things before that.

Rock Hyrax

Drakensberg Rockjumper

I don’t know if I ever mentioned the name of our tour company but it’s called Rockjumper Tours.  There are 2 species of Rockjumpers in So. Africa and they wanted to make sure that we saw them both.  This was number one.

another cool lizard

Now we’re in Lesotho

This is the view of the road we came up.

When we got to almost the top there was a pub.

This was the sign in the parking lot and it is best to heed it.  The wind was really strong and people have lost their car doors when they parked the wrong way.

This is about 9,400 ft.

This is the balcony off the pub.

Pao on the balcony

Warren

Greg using the wifi

Our guides Aldo and Stuart

Cape Sparrow next to the pub

At the top are many shepherds who bring their sheep up here in spring and stay until fall.  It is very cold and windy and they wear what looks like a wool burka with face masks.  They live in these stone houses and heat them with dung fires and no chimney.

The above flowers are really tiny but somehow exist in the extreme weather they have up here.

Just past the pub there is a brand new paved road.

There is a bit of controversy about this road as it cost a lot of money and is hardly used as it doesn’t really go anywhere.  With all the poverty in this country that money could have been used in a more beneficial way for its citizens.

As we headed back down

we had some beautiful views.

And did some birding on the edge.

We found these birds going up but got better pictures coming back down.

These are Ground Woodpeckers

It was a long day of chasing birds at high altitude in cold and wind but it was really a beautiful drive and we did find some nice birds as well as a few extras.