Day 60: Bob's Campsite – Aloes Guesthouse (bei Pitseng)

We continue north. From Bob's Campsite via Thaba-Tseka (petrol stop) via the Katse Dam to Aloes Guesthouse near Pitseng.

First on gravel until just before Katse. There you could visit the dam. That doesn't work for us in terms of time, tours of Lesotho's power supply are supposed to be at 9:00 and 14:00. And you could visit a botanical garden where endemic species are cared for and propagated. The weather is too lousy for the latter.

We go along the huge reservoir and then over the Mafika-Lisiu-Pass (our Garmin shows 3,090 m!). It's great that the visibility is improving. The landscape is simply breathtaking.

We pass through a densely populated area with many villages and agriculture. The further we go to the northwest, the wealthier it seems. More private car ownership, the first tractors, houses with ostentatious entrances.

And unfortunately, on one stretch of the route, extreme begging. It's almost as if there's a telephone chain – the children are waiting for us behind every bend at the side of the road, standing in a line and asking for money or sweets. And adults also ask for food and money.

It seems to us that the people lead a simple life, but they have a living. Agriculture, cattle, sheep, donkeys, intact houses with separate toilets (probably organized by the state, because they're the same everywhere), nice properties with gardens, satellite dishes, fashionable clothing.

It's sad that there are apparently travelers who condition children in particular to beg from white people, thereby provoking disappointment, which can quickly turn into aggression. Even if we wanted to, we couldn't satisfy all the expectations that were built up there.

Aloes Guesthouse is OK for one night, but it's kind of in a quiet mode. The boiler for hot water has to be turned on first, the toilets are full of leaves, in the restaurant we have the choice between frozen pizza and frozen buns. But actually everything is very nicely laid out with rose bushes, lavender, large, old deciduous and coniferous trees, peach trees...