THE MAGICAL KINGDOM OF LESOTHO pt 1

3 motorbikes. 2 trucks. 8 days ride through Lesotho. I loved it..

the countryside filled with tiny figures who would be mezmerised by the bikes and the madness of their riders. The herdsmen would shout and wave, calling to photographed. The voices of children shouting for 'SVVEEEEETS' could be heard before I often spotted them running to the roadside.

The wet and cold some days were like the UK but only more intence. The herdsmen would only be wearing their traditional blankets, wellies and very little else. They are the Knights of Lesotho roaming the plains. Just when you think you are alone, you are not For you will find someone often standing high above you on the crags of the cliff tops.

 Women worked in the fields and on the roads.

The countryside was littered with the carcuses of many a classic car, merging into the earth and it's surroundings. Nature embracing the metal bodies of past glorious people carriers.

Black Power

The Amazing Knights of Lesotho.

NAMIBIA

I travelled only 6 days through Namibia, a country that changes by the hour as you drive. A desert that seems to just go on for ever, then suddenly rich vegitation that makes you believe you have been imagining the desert only just a few hours ago.

I loved the fact that we would drive for hours not seeing anyone, then suddenly out of nowhere would be a person walking, in the seering heat to somewhere, where I would never know as there would be no villiage, no home, no farm.. just walking.

This is Africa.

Walvis Bay

The dry lands of Namibia were inhabited since early times by Bushmen, Damara, and Namaqua, and since about the 14th century AD by immigrating Bantu who came with the Bantu expansion. It became a German Imperial protectorate in 1884 and remained a German colony until the end of World War I. In 1920, the League of Nations mandated the country to South Africa, which imposed its laws and, from 1948, its apartheid policy.

The Cattle were so beautiful. Some breeds I have never seen before.

It is hard to imagine this rushing with water and the area lush green.

The Himba Tribe - This small community of people came down from the north to sell to the Tourists.

The Himba are an ethnic group of about 20,000 to 50,000 people[1] living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene region (formerly Kaokoland). They are mostly a nomadic, pastoral people, closely related to the Herero, and speak Otjihimba, a dialect of the Herero language.

Wlotzkasbaken or Wlotzka's Baken (German: Wlotzka's beacon, often shortened to Wlotzka or Wlotzkas) is a holiday settlement on Namibia's Atlantic coast, situated approximately halfway between Swakopmund and Hentiesbay. The area around the village lies within the Dorob National Park and features extensive lichen colonies.
Founded as a holiday angling spot in the 1930s, Wlotzkasbaken developed into a settlement of unusual design and administration. Without any fences or boundary walls, privacy is achieved only by the distance between the houses. Titles in the village are held by the Regional Council and only leased to the residents.

These two little dogs came running out barking, checking me out. Job done, they left.

An Old Police Station now my friends amazing home.

Namibia has a population of 2.1 million people and a stable multi-party parliamentary democracy. Agriculture, herding, tourism and the mining industry – including mining for gem diamonds, uranium, gold, silver, and base metals – form the backbone of Namibia's economy. Given the presence of the arid Namib Desert, it is one of the least densely populated countries in the world. Approximately half the population live below the international poverty line, and the nation has suffered heavily from the effects of HIV/AIDS, with 15% of the adult population infected with HIV in 2007