Sky's the limit

We headed South West and stayed in the small town of Himeville where Phil had stayed with his folks and had very fond memories. Himeville has one of the last forts erected in South Africa and was created to keep the white settlers safe from the Zulu. The fort has been turned into a wonderful little museum full of antiques donated by locals and a few quirkily taxidermied animals.

Our main reason for going to Himeville was to experience the Sani Pass 'road' which provides a spectacular ride around hair-pin bends into the clouds to the kingdom of Lesotho. At 2865 meters this is the highest pass in South Africa. Since this road is strictly for 4wd - very steep, narrow and strewn with rocks and potholes - we took a tour with the friendly and knowledgeable Dane who not only drove us to the top but provided information on just about every detail along the way.

Once we made it over the pass and past Lesotho's passport control we headed to a little village where we got a tour of Mya Elaina's house and tasted some of her delicious home-brewed beer and home-baked bread. With the taste of beer in our mouths, we headed over to the Sani Pass Pub, the highest pub in Africa, to sample some of their wares including the local beer, Maluti, and a delicious mulled wine and rum concoction called Gluweiss. We kept a watchfull eye on our drivers to make sure the treaterous road back down was no more dangerous than necessary. Although the drivers were dry, the heavens opened on the way back down providing a beautiful rainbow-filled view of the valley below.