Sani Pass

[iamweasel]

Doing it in September. woohoo! Been wanting to for a while...
At the top is the (in Lesotho) is "The Highest Pub in Africa"

"The Route, aptly called the "roof of Africa", boasts to be the highest road in Africa and third highest in the world and peaks at a heady height of 3200m above sea level! Close to the Sani Pass summit, within a couple of kilometres, is the highest peak in Southern Africa, Thabane Ntlenyana, 3482m high."

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[tommudd]

Looks like a great trip
I read a write up on Expedition Portal of some guys making the trip up and across and stopping at the pub. Looked like a great trip
That trip and finishing the climb up Kilimanjaro are on my bucket list. Have done the one day climb up Kili, ready for the 5-6 day to the top soon

and you do know that the real Roof of Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro the race over the road you are going on uses the name but.......at 5895m Kili has it beat some:whip::happy175:

 

[yellocoyote]

Looks like a gorgeous area and a great trip! Keep us updated!!

 

[Dave]

Awesome trip. How long does it take to drive up to the top?

Dave

 

[iamweasel]

Yeah for sure - Kili does take top trumps on that one...
I'd love to do a road trip up to that area. Through Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania. one day...

Dave - apparently the last 8km can take up to 2 hours. Not sure how long the whole pass takes. Gonna be staying in a B+B at the bottom, so I'll be doing it both ways (well depends on what mood my wife is in hahahah).

 

[tommudd]

from what I can gather time wise its up to road conditions/ traffic etc Its one of those would be a few hours by yourself but with traffic etc all day Plus you have to go through the border stop at the top and get stamped.

My next trip hopefully we'll go from Tanzania down through to Botswana, have some friends who live there and want to go see them.

Make sure you get a lot of pictures for us! And have a safe and fun trip.

 

[Ry' N Jen]

That looks like one killer road trip Adam!

 

[sparkman70]

That looks like a blast to do,have fun and take photos for us to see

 

[Pippobug]

Adam,
you must post picture!!!
Fil

 

[iamweasel]

Thanks guys. Don't worry I'll take loads of pics and video
Wish it was sooner. can't wait

 

[Bulli]

We did a Lesotho trip in December last year. Awsome man. Go and do sani pass. The veiws are really breathtaking, the pass itself is not very technical and in the dry you do not really need 4wd so do not be dissapointed if the hi-ace's overtake you to the top with 22 passengers seated.

But really, it is magical. You do not need to have your passport stamped on the lesotho side if you do not wish to enter lesotho. But you need to report on the SA side. the complete pass is in "niemands land".

Have lots of pics but do not want to jack your thread, will post a few after you.
Enjoy tjomma.

 

[iamweasel]

Thanks Bulli.
I'm only heading there in about a month, so feel free to share your pics here if you like - would love to see them...

Ugh, so you have to put up with taxis there too?!?

Is there anything you recommend checking out Lesotho side?

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Post up some pic's!

 

[Bulli]

There is taxi's using sani, but we encountered only two coming down. Geduld het jy baie nodig when in lesotho. If you have time on your hands, go and check out katse dam and do the dam wall tour. Well worth it.
you need a day from sani to katse, a day there and a day back to sani. Although its only 170km from sani to katse, it takes alot of time. You average about 30-40km/h on the good gravel of which there is only a short distance of. Lesotho is called the mountain kingdom for one reason, Mountains. There are alot of small passes, River crossings and "donkie kar" roads that have awsome veiws, but slows you down alot.
Will try and post a pic from flicr, but i am not the cleveres when it comes to that.

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[Bulli]

I did it! i can post pics! The previous post was enroute from katse to sani on there B main road. The next pic is a close up at the same location. will load more of sani at home over the weekend.

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[Bulli]

Here is more pic's of our trip to Lesotho.
This was taken at the start of the descend of Sani Pass

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At the bottom of the steep descend, roughly halfway between the two border posts:

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En-route from Letseng mine to Katse on the B4-B5 road:

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[iamweasel]

Very cool photos Andre! I can't wait
Are those last two or three after you crossed into Lesotho?

 

[Ry' N Jen]

threadjacked.gif
I heard you guy's had SNOW down there in Joburg!!!

 

[iamweasel]

yeah - a few sprinklings. not real snow. People here will shout about 1cm of snow!
Van Reenens Pass (also in Drakensberg. On the main route between Joburg and Durban) was closed twice due to snow this winter!

 

[Bulli]

Ja, its cold this winter. No snow in Pretoria though.
The last three pics was from letseng mine going to katse dam, then from katse dam you still have 170km to sani all on Lesotho side.

I'm sure there are lots of routes and small paaitjies one can plan your route to, we had 5 days and went in to Lesotho at Thaba Tseka and out of lesotho at Sani to the N3 and back to PTA.
Its 1900km and a nice circle route from pretoria.