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There is a road running between the remote villages of Sehonghong and Sehlabathebe, leading up the high Matebeng pass.

One Year Africa: Sehonghong to Sehlabathebe: the Matebeng Pass

Maarten de Boeck
2006-05-01 19:04:53

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Sehonghong to Sehlabathebe:
the Matebeng Pass

There is a road running between the remote villages of Sehonghong and Sehlabathebe, leading up the high Matebeng pass. Although it is drivable, the road is more used by pedestrians and horses than by cars. There is no public transport whatsoever. My only option was to walk, hoping there would pass a car to hitch a ride with. Along the way I met with the Basotho people. I encountered a 'museum of people', colourful people. Men on horses, young men with balaclavas, herd boys, colourfully dressed women, old women with shrunken faces, young giggling girls.
This is the imagery story of my journey to Sehlabathebe, heading up the Matebeng Pass.

Sehonghong to Matebeng
I had hitchhiked to Sehonghong from Thaba-Tseka. It was a wonderful drive in the back of an open pick-up through a tremendous landscape. Halfway I noticed the driver was drunk. A few moments before he almost lost control over the wheel near a yawning ravine of the Senqu River. His driving seemed steady, although I worried as we passed these yawning chasms. I wondered if I should have stopped and waited for another car.

It was midday when I arrived in Sehonghong and in the early afternoon I hit the road.

In the evening I reached Matebeng village. Along the way I had broken the plastic washer of the hip belt of my rucksack in an unfortunate manoeuvre. I had taken a short cut together with two young girls but decided to head back to the main road.
I reached the road and had to get down the steep roadside verge to enter it. I dropped off my backpack and let it slide down. I jumped down myself, put on my backpack and noticed the washer of the hip belt of my rucksack was broken. I cursed. I couldn't tighten my hip belt anymore. ...