Mohale is a beautiful place. Sprawled over the sculpted mountains right in the heart of the country, it’s enveloped by sweeping highland panoramas on all sides.
And while there are only a few who come to enjoy the less-popular trekking away from Bokong and Tsehlanyane, most these days will flock into the region for a glimpse of the award-winning Mohale Dam.
Intended as a backup to the aforementioned Katse Dam, this awesome structure counts a whopping 145 meters in height and bridges a wide crest on the Senqunyane River of more than 700 meters in total!
Mohale Dam is a concrete faced rock-fill dam in Lesotho. It is the second dam, under Phase 1B of the series of dams of the proposed Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), which will eventually include five large dams in remote rural areas of Lesotho and South Africa.The project has been built at a cost of US$1.5 billion.
The Mohale Dam was awarded the 2005 Fulton Awards by the Concrete Society of South Africa as having the "Best Construction Engineering Project and Best Construction Technique.
The dam is built across the Senqunyane River below its confluence with the western tributary, the Likalaneng River. Investigation of the dam site in the "Highlands of Lesotho" has revealed "rounded, steep sided valleys" where the soil cover is thin and basaltic lava is the dominant formation. The dam site has been identified with two geological features of faults which needed treatment measures. The dam is located 100 kilometres (62 mi) to the east of Maseru, which is the capital of Lesotho. The dam drains a catchment area of 938 square kilometres (362 sq mi) over a river length of 60 kilometres (37 mi) with an elevation variation of 1,050 metres (3,440 ft).The importance of the large water resources potential of the country, one of the various natural resources of the land-locked country. Subsequently, Director of Public Works, requested an engineer to examine the potential of the project as a possible means to supplement the water supply needs in South African gold mines
