Lesotho

A country Harry says most people have never heard of, and the one he comes out calling his favourite in Africa.

He goes with a stated purpose. His comment sections had accused him of only showing the bad parts of the continent, so he, Kieran and Luke Damant set out to film the other side of it.

Obs: the video credits the lodge, the tour guide and a drone-footage company, and carries eSIM and card sponsors. Only the travel content is recorded here.

What makes it strange

The title’s claim, and the facts behind it:

• It is an enclave — completely surrounded by South Africa, with its own immigration at a small airport that is being rebuilt.
• The entire country is high. Harry’s figure is that its lowest point is around 1,600 m above sea level, which he describes as the highest low point in the world.
• It was never really colonised, which is unusual in the region and is the reason the culture looks like nothing else around it.
• It is one of the least visited countries in Africa. Not even South Africans come. There is essentially no tourism infrastructure, and Harry found it hard to research before arriving.

Observations

From 48 hours in Lesotho - the World’s Strangest Country 🇱🇸

The history, which Harry tells at length because it explains the rest:

• Moshoeshoe, in the 1800s, during a period of famine, war and Zulu incursion, unified the tribes, families and clans of the area on the argument that strength lies in unity.
• That, plus the mountains, made the country a fortress nobody could take. Harry’s framing is that colonisers everywhere else worked by dividing and conquering, and here there was nothing to divide.
• It produced the Basotho identity — its own language, customs, dress and hats, distinctive in the region.
• The airport is named after him. The current king is related to him and, Harry is told, is not popular.

The flag, explained by his guide: blue for rain, white for peace, green for prosperity.

Daily life:

• The hardest part of living here is simply surviving, in his guide’s words — getting food, and finding enough money to send children to school.
• Farming is for the household, not for sale. Small fields, enough for the family, stored to get through winter.
• Donkeys and horses are the transport, because of the terrain and the lack of paved roads. Donkeys are slower than horses but stronger, sure-footed, and the best thing for carrying goods up a mountain.
• Bride price is largely gone. It used to be about 15 cows; inflation has made it impractical. What it depended on was family and education, not looks.
• It is cold even in summer, and it rains.
• Beer is Maluti, the local brand, and women generally drink only at weekends.
• Parking a horse at the market is free, which Harry contrasts with what England would charge.

His verdict: no complaints, nobody was anything but decent to them, and mountains as far as he can see. He resists comparing it to Switzerland on the grounds that it deserves to be its own thing.

Places

• Semonkong