Celso Salles
The Kingdom In The SkyBeautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination.This is essentially an alpine country, where villagers on horseback in multicolored balaclavas and blankets greet you round precipitous bends. The hiking and trekking - often on a famed Basotho pony - is world class and the infrastructure of the three stunning national parks continues to improve. An astonishingly beautiful country, this ’Mountain Kingdom’ needs to be seen to be believed.Key Facts• Total Size: 30,355 square km• General Terrain: mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountains• Geographical High Point: Thabana Ntlenyana 3,482 m• Climate: temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers• Major cities: MASERU (capital) population of 220,000• Languages Spoken: Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa• Independence: 4 October 1966• Nationality: Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural)• Religions: Christian 80 percent, indigenous beliefs 20 percent• National Symbol: Basotho hat• National Anthem or Song: Lesotho fatse la bo ntat’a rona (Lesotho, Land of Our Fathers)• Economy of Lesotho Major Industries: food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts, construction, tourism, subsistence farming • Agricultural Products: corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock• Natural Resources: water, agricultural and grazing land, diamonds, sand, clay, building stone• Major Exports: manufactures 75 percent (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food, and live animals• Major Imports: food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products• Currency: loti (LSL); South African rand (ZAR)• National GDP: $ 3,723,000,000
