Sani Pass & Africa’s Highest Pub

Not far from Underberg is Sani Pass, the only eastern entry from South Africa into Lesotho. Sani Pass is famous for being terribly impractical: the first motorised vehicle to make it up was only in 1948 after many failed attempts. The road is not tarred - although we were told it is much, much better than it used to be - and it is impressive to see the cars make their way up there. Sani Pass starts at 1,550m and climbs another 1,330m to the Lesotho border. It’s ‘only’ 9 km long but the path is so sinewy that it takes a good 2-3 hours to cross. 

There’s actually a lot to do and to see on the way. First and foremost, the views are outstanding. The higher you get the grander the whole endeavour seems. 

view on the valley 

notice how different the left side is from the right

tourist alert!

it gets trickier the higher you get

Brett sharing some insider knowledge

a protea tree

Once you’ve got over the view you can get to ‘real’ business: looking for diamonds. Lesotho has plenty of diamonds and all the sparkly stones along the pass are enough to make you believe that if you look hard enough you might just find something too. 

digging away

diamonds??

After you’ve filled your pockets with diamonds you can look up again and try to spot the various animals that live there. We saw baboons and a very dangerous (but dead) snake. There are also rare types of birds worth looking out for. 

granted it's a bit far but can you see the baboon?

The real reward of getting up Sani Pass is not the diamonds or spotting game, however, but rather a very well located pub where you can enjoy a beer and contemplate from the highest point the road you’ve just driven on. Madness. 

our own contribution to the decor

we made it!

on the way down: the protea flower, symbol of south africa