 Lesotho
is a small country completely landlocked
by South Africa. Lesotho is ringed by mountains and the entire
country is more than a thousand meters above sea level – it is
fittingly known as
the “Kingdom in the Sky”. The country consists mainly of
mountains – less than 10 % of the
land is arable.
Two of the best ways to see the country and experience the
friendliness of the people are
hiking and pony trekking, the scenery of Lesotho’s rugged
landscape is one of the most beautiful
and austere on the African continent. The country is a simple
and rural one. Go from tiny village to tiny village, through
mountain passes and across
rolling plains – the scenery will be unremittingly spectacular.
Lesotho, roughly translated, means “the land of the people who
speak Sotho”. It will come as no surprise, then, that almost all
of Lesotho’s inhabitants are
of the Basotho tribe.
Within the approximately 900 kilometres of Lesotho’s boundary
with South Africa, the Basotho people live mostly traditional
lives in this rugged and unforgiving but starkly beautiful land.
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Lesotho Facts |
|
 |
|
Full Name |
Kingdom of Lesotho |
|
Capital City |
Maseru |
|
Area |
30,355
sq km |
|
Population |
2,022,331 |
|
Time Zone |
GMT/UTC
+2 |
|
Languages |
Sotho, Southern (official)
English (official)
This is spoken by 76% of the population. |
|
Currency |
Maloti
(L) |
|
Climate |
The
climate is what you would expect from a mountainous
region. Lesotho’s heavily altitude-dependent
temperatures are cool at altitude (often bitterly
cold, especially in winter), and snow falls
year-round on the mountains. That said, summers can
be baking hot under cloudless skies, but the weather
tends to be prone to change suddenly to pervasive
mist and rain. |
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