I am writing this, zombie-like, run ragged from days of transit, at a remote backpackers lodge in the Kingdom of Lesotho. Mushy brain, tired body, full heart. That’s the context and caveat to all that follows.
Transit in a foreign continent, especially beyond the first world, is a full-on sensory affair. You have no mental shortcuts or reference points for what you are seeing, smelling, hearing, etc. The journey to get here was 30+ hours plus 1 night’s sleep: drive to airport (2hr), flight to Casablanca (2hr), layover (2hr), flight to Doha (7hr), layover (1.5hr), flight to Johannesburg (8hr), drive to farm (1hr), sleep, drive to Lesotho (9hr). The saving grace was we barely changed time zones.
We left Imsouane in the dark. Two hours later the sun had risen and we were at the Agadir airport. It was small and very Moroccan. Walk out doors, onto the tarmac and onwards to your plane. Soon we were in Casablanca. Short layovers are a gift. We rushed through passport control. Scurried to get food. Noted that smoking lounges are still a thing. Boarded our Qatar Airlines flight. Best airline in the world. What Qatar did brilliantly was minimize the suck and hardness of long flights. Nobody is going to delight me flying economy 7 hours to Doha, then 8 more to Johannesburg. We got to Jo’burg on time, with all our bags, including guitars, despite the tightest of tight layovers. Yes, we shipped a bike home and bought two guitars. Hopefully we have a guitar player in the family by next summer.
Picking up our rental car, Hertz asks if we have approval to drive their car into Lesotho. Panic. Uh, no. A few emails later and we have the necessary forms that no one at the border asked to see.
We stayed overnight at a farm / stable / community center an hour south of Johannesburg. A bit weird and run down but good enough for a night. Better than an airport casino hotel. Cool to have pigs, cats, ducks, geese, horses all around you. Apparently the rooster crowed at 4:30am. We were gone by 9am.
The drive from the farm to Malealea Lodge in Lesotho was an epic all-day affair. It covered a lot of stunning terrain. And while bearing witness to amazing nature, we also bore witness to hardship and poverty. My every other thought was a wonder about economic disparity. Things I noticed along the way:
People doing things you don’t see at home - Women with boxes of fruit on their heads, selling them at roadside construction slow downs. People just walking along highways. Sometimes in the middle of nowhere, with no belongings, maybe a coke bottle. From where you come? You go? Mostly alone, sometimes in pairs. In Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, we drove through a particularly wild and chaotic section of town. Throngs of people packed everywhere. No white people. Every kind of garb imaginable. Some men wearing balaclavas with their eyes poking out of small holes. A heat management strategy? A disguise? Local fashion vibes? So many differences it’s dizzying. I’ve never been so conscious of my skin. What a privilege.
Wildlife you don’t see at home - On the outskirts of Johannesburg we started seeing ostriches just randomly in farmers’ fields. Later we stopped the car to inspect the most amazing birds nests. We saw very, very yellow birds. And red ones. The brightest green grasshoppers. Lots of shepherds and their animals crossing the road. The man in the photo is wearing a traditional Basotho blanket and hat, from Lesotho.
Housing you don’t see at home - Everything in South Africa seems walled. Homes, stores, gas stations, schools. Most walls are adorned with spikes and/or electric fencing. We went for a brief suburban stroll on streets not so different from our childhood, but with no people in sight and endless walls and wires and barbs. On the drive, several times we saw corrugated metal homes for miles. Tiny boxes. Someone’s home. You almost can’t believe what you’re seeing.
Things that don’t happen at home - As we neared the Lesotho border, a man ran into the road from under a shaded tree. Odd. As we got closer you could see he was in a uniform, shouting at us. To pull over? I think? Odd. Then I saw a police car on the other side of the road. More men, police? Justin didn’t see any of that. He made the split second decision to keep driving. And nothing happened. They didn’t chase. We didn’t look back. Maybe we’ll have a fat fine at Hertz when we return the car. Maybe not.
Beauty you don’t see at home - There is so much beauty in this part of the world. We travelled through high plains, with vast sky views, and rolling peaks as we approached the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. Our destination was a simple, remote lodge in a spectacular location. Malealea.
You can focus on all the differences, as I mostly did above, shaped so much by luck and history. They can be jarring. You can feel on high alert. It forces you to think more deeply. The US State Department Travel Advisories for these parts of the world aren’t exactly heartwarming. But I believe that we are all so much more alike than different. And so many circumstances beyond our control define our fates.
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