Size does count

Double trouble

Without the core there is no flower, without guests there is no Maliba lodge. I could not walk pass the flower rock outside Maliba lodge reception without taking these pictures. I don’t know if the rock was placed there for guests to take pictures or just for decorating, but never the less we took the opportunity  to show everyone how much fun we had at Maliba Lodge.

Playing with the decor - photo by Alta Farquhar

A Basotho ancient, grinding maize

Old Basotho woman grinding maize - Photo by Greg Marinovich

In the high mountains of Lesotho, a traditional lifestyle has been preserved alongside the inevitable modernisation in a fascinating mix of contemporary and customary life.

Lesotho a photographers dream

Africa never ceases to amaze me. Over thirty years of living on this continent and there are still surprises to be had and many roads to be more travelled. And so it was when my husband and I travelled to Lesotho for the first time for a weekend at Maliba Mountain Lodge.

Sand Stone cliffs of Golden Gate NP (Photo by Sharon Bishop)

Wild Orchids

On the spur of the moment we decided to start our year off somewhere beautiful and not sorting our house out at home as we had originally intended. A few Internet searches led us to the  Maliba Lodge Website and we were sold.  Seeing as this was a treat we decided to treat ourselves the whole way and book into the Mountain Lodge, even though the River Lodge looked as appealing.

The Basotho dancers of Maliba Lodge

This was my first time visiting Southern Africa, and what a trip to turned out to be.

Maliba Lodge was the finale of a trip that saw me visiting Cape Town and Hluhluwe. At the end of the lunch on my penultimate day, the Besotho staff filed out onto the deck under the veranda and performed 4 traditional songs for their guests, to the background accompaniment of an early afternoon thunderstorm. After their performance they were kind enough to pose as a group for me to snap a few photos.

What an amazing country, I can’t wait to come back!

Story and Photo by Rohan Baker

A big thank you to Rohan for sending us this image. Rohan has won himself a Maliba Mountain Lodge peak cap which we will be sending to him shortly.

Late snow fall at Maliba Lodge

Late snow fall at Maliba Lodge

I’ve always heard about the wonders of a Lesotho winter with the landscape blanketed in Snow. Snow is Africa is something that’s almost unheard of, so it was a surprise when we woke up to this special view.

The “Lucky” hicking guide of Malealea

Guide Lucky and his brother (Photo: Dieter Butscher)

Our last visit to Lesotho started at the beautiful Malealea lodge where we stayed 4 days.

We love hiking and usually hire guides in order to learn more about the country while discovering the country on foot. Our guide was named LUCKY…his Basotho name was very long and complicated to pronounce, thus the guides tend to use their English names. Lucky is 22 years old and has for the past 2 or 3 years been working as a guide at Malealea. He loves his work and it grants him and his family a small income. Even though Lucky is still relatively young, he is full of knowledge and wonderfully skilled as a guide.

Maletsunyane Falls by Dave Estment

Maletsunyane Falls By Dave Estment

Taking a break on a training weekend for the “Roof of Africa“, we visit Semonkong (“Place of Smoke”). Partly because the Lodge lunch comes highly rated, but mostly to see the famous Maletsunyane Falls. Neither disappoints.

Kids of St. Felix

Kids looking through broken glass

Earlier this year on a private visit to some of the government schools in Northern Lesotho, I learnt that Lesotho has plenty of Primary/Secondary schools along with dedicated teachers. This has resulted in it having one of the highest literacy rates in Africa (82% – World Vision), however these schools are ill equipped and under financed. This has resulted in minimal teacher resources and no maintenance program leaving schools in a terrible state of disrepair.

This photo was taken at St Felix Primary School which had 150 of its 400 window broken, allowing the freezing mountain air to blow through every classroom. This vivid image was the catalyst for myself and some mates to get together to form the “Maliba Community Trust” to help finance the community, through projects like repairing school infrastructure.

Photo by Nick King

The Old man in the mirror

Emma wrote to us recently with this story and included this stunning image.

Old Man - Photo by Emma McEvoy

In July this year I went with 2 friends on my first visit to Africa.

First up we traveled to Zanzibar. Whilst it was beautiful, as a keen photographer I was disapionted to discover that the locals intensely disliked their photos being taken as they believed evil spirits would enter them from the camera. I got dirty looks and was yelled at a few times. I missed heaps of fantastic photo opportunities.