Sani Top sits atop the steep Sani Pass, the famous road into Lesotho through the Drakensberg range in KwaZulu-Natal. South Africa's highest mountain pass offers stupendous views on clear days and unlimited hiking possibilities.
Lesotho is known as the Kingdom in the Sky due to its lofty position high in the mountains. It encompasses a tiny 30,000 km2, all of which lies at over 1400 metres above sea level.
It has earned itself the title of the highest lowest point of any country in the world and the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 metres in elevation. It is a rugged and forbidding country of dirt roads and extreme weather.
The people of Lesotho are called Basotho, or Mosotho in the singular, and they speak the language Sesotho. Confusing huh? A large number of the population in rural areas are competent horse riders, and in some parts of the country, it is the only way to travel other than on foot.
The Basotho are known for wearing thick woolen tribal blankets, wrapped around themselves to keep warm against the cold. It snows heavily in winter, and even when we visited in summer, it dipped down to a chilly 13°C once the sun went down.
You can fly into Lesotho via South Africa, and there are a number of land entry points, but probably the most iconic route of entry is via the steep and precarious Sani Pass. What started as a perilous horse trail that rose steeply from the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa, the Sani Pass is now passable by four-wheel drive.
Sani Top is where you find the highest Pub in Africa. There is really nothing much here, and the weather is very cold during all seasons of the year. During the Winter Season, the place is always experiencing heavy and light snow, and for all these reasons, the place is the most popular tourist attraction in the Mokhotlong District.
