The next part of our South African adventure would actually take us out of South Africa into a country within South Africa- the Kingdom of Lesotho. Lesotho is known as the mountain kingdom and was only a short drive from Bloemfontein. As with a significant proportion of our trip we had not done any specific planning and booked accommodation the night before we planned to leave. The extremely helpful Coast to Coast book, which we picked up in Mossel Bay recommended a few hostels to choose from and we decided to book the Trading Post Guesthouse in Roma, which was only 30 kilometres from the capital city Maseru, where we were to enter the country. The plan was to book one night and get an idea for what activities we wanted to do and then take it from there.

The journey to the South African & Lesotho border was very straight-forward. We were told though, that it may take a while to get through border control with quite long queues forming. However the queues weren't so bad, although it was an interesting experience going through an African border control - that is for sure. Lots of people without transport hanging around and litter everywhere. We had to get a departure stamp from the South African side and then an arrival stamp from the Lesotho authorities. It was relatively easy, but seemed a bit disorganised and it wasn't really clear where we had to go or what we had to do. Signage was severely lacking but we were to become accustomed to this during our short stay here!

We made it through the border just after lunchtime and immediately headed straight into the lions den- Maseru. I say lions den because this is the capital city and it was crazy. People everywhere, walking on the edge of the road. "Don't drive in the left hand lane" we were told. And now we understood why. Pedestrians seem to have equal rights to cars over in Africa when it comes to crossing roads etc - even more so in Lesotho than in South Africa! We had no idea where we were going so after not finding the road we needed to go on we had a look at the map - great idea! At this point it was worth pointing out that the new hire car we had - a Fiat Punto - was terrible. It had no power at all and this would come back to haunt us once we realised later in our journey through Lesotho how mountainous and awful the roads were! But much more about that later.

We finally got on the right road and headed towards Roma. It was evident from the start that Lesotho is a very poor country and also evident that the glimpse of a white person is somewhat a novelty. Many people wave at you, some hold out their hands wanting money. A very small minority are not as welcoming and either pretend to hurl rocks at your car or in one instance actually throw rocks at you car. But we were assured that the Lesotho people were really friendly and I don't want to give a false impression of the country. The negative experiences we encountered were very minor and didn't detract from our stay and should not detract from anyone coming here. I guess if I lived in Lesotho in a shack and saw two white people in a car - even if it was a Fiat Punto - then I would ask for money as well so it should come as no surprise.

The first couple of hours in Lesotho were very interesting. We were seeing a very different side to Africa, which we had seen glimpses of in South Africa but not to the same extent. At first it was a little intimidating if I'm honest. I guess the unknown is always a bit intimidating. It was full of shacks but the further out of the towns we got those shacks were much more aesthetically pleasing, with many having thatched roofs. The countryside was beautiful - rolling hills and mountains. It was very green.

On arrival into Roma we found our accommodation and settled in reflecting on our drive from Bloemfontein through Lesotho and the terrible car we had! The accommodation was excellent. We had our own room again and the bed had an electric blanket, which was an absolute godsend with the cold conditions we were expecting - Lesotho is very cold at night! We also had access to a communal area where we had dinner, with a log fire. Beautiful. The first night we started planning the next days events and decided to go to the Maletsunyane falls, which is the one of the highest waterfalls in the world. It is close to Semonkong and we were told that we would be ok with our car, even though some of the roads were dirt tracks. Sorted. Despite the assurances though, we were still a little apprehensive as our car, despite being relatively new was already battered and bruised - perhaps the previous group to hire this car had been to Lesotho, we thought!

We headed off relatively early the next day not knowing what to expect. What we were to encounter was to be extremely memorable for varying reasons. People walking around looking after sheep & cows, local people driving horse and carts and riding horses. We regularly had to stop due to animals blocking the roads. People looking at us as if they had never seen a couple of people in a Fiat Punto before. Actually, that was understandable! A horse and cart would have been better with the absolutely atrocious roads that we encountered. Some had tarmac, but most of the journey was spent negotiating bumps, potholes and stones. By bumps I mean big hills in the road. By potholes I mean huge craters and by stones I mean parts of roads, that hadn't been finished full of huge rocks. We saw one other car similar to ours on the whole 6 hour return journey. The rest were 4 X 4s and the like. No wonder the local people were looking at us so strangely. "Who are those two stupid white people in the Fiat Punto" they must have thought! It was pretty ridiculous and we were a little angry at not being warned at how bad the roads actually were. Dirt tracks, I've seen before. This wasn't a dirt track. At least not a dirt track you get in the UK or Australia. Just have a look at some of the photos on Facebook. It was absolutely crazy!

With our car absolutely battered, but still alive (thankfully) we made it to the falls. It was a beautiful sight - the Maletsunyane Falls, the highest single drop falls in Southern Africa -192 metres. To get a really good view we needed to walk down through the fields. This is a tourist spot in Lesotho but it isn't very touristy. In fact we were the only ones there - apart from a few local people working in the fields! After getting some photos and taking in the breath-taking views we headed back to the car and contemplated the ride back to the accommodation. At least we knew what we were in for! Still, every time we went over a crater it was worrying. It would be scary if the car broke down as we were literally in the middle of nowhere! I guess this is all part of travelling! The car did make it back to the hostel, much to our relief although how it was still in one piece I am not so sure. On the way back we had to encounter one of the locals chucking a rock at us after he held out his hand and we didn't give him any money. Luckily no damage was done to the car though and this was an isolated incident. All in all it was a very interesting experience. Some would call it character building! We certainly learnt a lot about Lesotho - that is for sure. Beautiful country - awful roads!

We weren't sure about what to do the following day. We could stay around Roma and visit some local tourist sites or we could drive through Lesotho and overnight up in Northern Lesotho. We shared our concerns over the roads with one of the staff at the Trading Post, who was very friendly and helpful and she assured us that the roads were not a problem, apart from a small stretch which was unfinished. But this wasn't bad, just a dirt track. Nothing like what we had encountered on our journey to the waterfalls she told us. So we decided to do the drive as we wanted to see more of Lesotho.

We headed off early and it was great. The roads had tarmac and there were potholes, but not bad ones. Well, in the UK they would be considered bad. But compared to the previous day they were miniscule. It was all good. The car was struggling up the mountain roads, really struggling. But we had got used to that now. We went through 'God help me pass' and the 'Blue Mountain pass' both extremely high vantage points for seeing the Lesotho mountains and surrounding areas for all it's glory. And it was breathtaking.

It was all going so well - until we hit a stretch of unfinished road. By unfinished I mean unfinished! It was stones and rocks for around 60 kilometres and we were going up and down mountains with no barriers around corners. Looking back now we can laugh but at the time it was scary. On occasions we passed other travellers who obviously were as oblivious to the road conditions before setting out on their journey as we were. It was pretty crazy and seemed never ending. Would the car make it? After a couple of hours of Laura's rally driving around Lesotho mountains we finally made it on to the tarmac again. Phew! But no, shortly later were back on the dirt tracks again, although it wasn't as bad this time - just the odd 2 metre crater every few yards! After a long, long journey through Lesotho we made our destination just before dark. We were relieved to still be alive and very relieved the car was still going! If Jeremy Clarkson ever wants to come and test out a Car's reliability for Top Gear then he should come to Lesotho!

On our journey from Roma we saw some fantastic scenery, the huge Mohale and Katse dams, beautiful mountainous country and some awesome views. It was well worth doing although I'm not going to lie - the awful roads ruined it a little. But looking back it was an experience I will never forget! Lesotho is a beautiful country but very poor and it really is a wake-up call to see how these people live - especially in the remote areas. The following day we got up early for our journey out of Lesotho and to Johannesburg. We got in the beat-up car and headed off. 10 seconds later we were out of the car. We had a flat tyre…........