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Saturday
With so much of the country inaccessible by vehicle, and vehicles
themselves prohibitively expensive, transportation by donkeys, ponies
and horses remains common in the lives of many Basotho (the term used
for the people of Lesotho). Although renting ponies and a local guide
is a distinctively cliche tourist activity, there's no denying the
incredible opportunity it affords to get out into the countryside to
witness first-hand the lifestyle of Lesotho's rural community while
continuing to revel in the country's natural splendour. The following
picture shows you a little of each: donkeys, normally used for
transporting people or goods across the country-side, serenely grazing
in front of one of the countless unique rock formations.
I call this one "Donkeys eating in front of rocks"
Wherever you go in the developing world, it's always interesting to
see how the local people adapt to their natural surroundings. Or, put
another way, to see how the local people make use of the simple
resources they have available to improve their quality of life. I
think back to Tanzania, where people burn bricks in home-made kiln
ovens, and I think back to Laos in Southeast Asia, a country whose
simple and easy-going existence reminds me very much of Lesotho's,
where the local people still use bombshells from the time of the
Vietnam War to build staircases and fences in their villages (it's a
somewhat surreal experience walking through these isolated villages
only to see staircases and fences out made with bombshells). Around
here it's rocks, with rocky hills, rocky mountains, rocky outcrops, or
just plain rocks making up a significant portion of the countryside.
And as you would expect in a resource-limited setting like Lesotho,
the rocks do much more than simply satisfy the insatiable photographic
appetite of your snap-happy correspondent.
(The wooden thing on the right is for keeping animals)
Pictured above is what seems to be a very typical Lesotho homestead,
one that we saw while on our Saturday pony trek, and as you can see,
all the walls are made out of stones. Although I'm not usually one to
spend a great deal of time admiring craftsmanship, I could not help
but marvel at the meticulously arranged stones of varying shapes and
sizes. I'm sure that they were haphazardly collected from the nearby
vicinity and perhaps chiselled into useful shapes, but it appears
instead that they were sold as part of a set specifically manufactured
to be assembled in perfectly inter-locking jigsaw-like fashion.
Generations and generations of experience, I suppose. I will show more
examples of rocks put to good use in another posting.
Another highlight of our pony trek, and indeed probably the greatest
highlight of traveling in general, was getting to know some of the
local people. These encounters are often so unfortunately short and
fleeting, and sometimes complicated by language barriers, but they can
create memories that will last a lifetime. First Matthias (see below),
our horse trekking guide for the day, who had completed secondary
school but due to the lack of domestic employment opportunities was
forced simply to work his land and raise his animals to make ends
meet. His excellent English skills gave him the advantage over many
others of being able to work as a guide in his part-time, but it was
hard not to imagine, with some degree of sorrow, what great things may
have become of this intelligent and inquisitive 28-year-old in a more
advantageous setting. Matthias also introduced us to the common
Lesotho expression of approval, "Sharp, sharp" (pronounced 'shop,
shop') , which must have made its way into Lesotho via South Africa. I
had fun the rest of the week saying that around town. Shop, shop!
The second person pictured is the young woman of 15 years who showed
us the way to some 400-year-old rock paintings created by ancestors of
the modern Basotho, a people known as the San. When asked what she
wanted to do when she finished school, she expressed a desire to
invest in the transportation business, perhaps by buying then renting
buses or taxis. When asked what she would do with all the money she
earned from her transportation business, she replied that she would
use it to help lift the standard of living of all her relatives and
friends. I was disappointed to learn that despite our blossoming
camaraderie I would not be considered for financial support, but hers
was a wonderful, and wonderfully African, response nonetheless.
The final local character pictured above was a random local man with
whom we crossed paths, but unlike the first two, he spoke no English.
In situations like this, when neither party speaks the other's
language, the conversation rarely goes deeper than simple topics like
names, points of departure or arrival, or the weather. But when, after
much repitition and charading, a genuine understanding between the two
parties is made--one where each side not only understands the other,
but knows that the other understands theirs--the uplifting feelings
develop quickly, with smiles soon to follow. The blanket our Basotho
friend has wrapped around him is the typical style, especially in the
chilly winter months.
Tanzanian Moment of the Week
Guess what...I have a puppy! Actually he's not my puppy, he's my
neighbours'. But about a week after they got him they had to go away
for a week, and left me and two Tanzanian guys to look after him. He
sleeps outside in a doghouse but I let him in the house usually when
I'm home. He is an extremely cute puppy, even by puppy standards
(although I may be biased). Although he has peed on my concrete floor
thrice now and I think he has fleas, he does perform the valuable
service of hunting down and eating the ear-piercing crickets that
sometimes get in the house. Here's a picture of "Vee":
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