Sani Top

Situated at the 2,874-metre summit of southern Africa’s most famous and challenging road pass, Sani Top makes a fabulous introduction to Lesotho. Here you’ll find thrilling mountain scenery, wonderful hiking opportunities, down-to-earth cultural tours and world-class birding complemented by log fires, tasty glühwein and hearty home-style cooking at Africa’s highest pub.

Climbing from the South African town of Underberg, unsurfaced Sani Pass has long been fetished by South African 4x4 enthusiasts, and it gained more recent international exposure in an episode of Top Gear shot in South Africa and Lesotho. It’s a truly spine-tingling ascent, navigating a seemingly endless succession of switchbacks that pass through increasingly beautiful scenery as the road gains altitude. It is incredible to think that this rough and rocky road is the only motorable pass to breach the otherwise impregnable 200km-long uKhahlamba-Drakensberg escarpment that forms the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal.

Once at the summit, Sani Top boasts a bleakly beautiful Afroalpine setting and sensational views back over burnished cliffs and multiple switchbacks to the distant Drakensberg foothills. Popular attractions with day trippers are an informative cultural tour to a traditional village of stone-and-thatch Basotho huts 6km along the road to Mokhotlong, and a hearty lunch with a view at Sani Mountain Lodge, which houses the highest pub in Africa.

For overnight visitors, two of the many possible hikes out of Sani Top stand out. Peak-baggers tend to opt for the nine-hour round hike or horseback trip to Thabana Ntlenyana (literally ‘Beautiful little mountain’), whose 3,482-metre summit is not merely the tallest peak in Lesotho, but the highest point anywhere in Africa south of Kilimanjaro. An equally beautiful but less demanding four- to five-hour round hike leads to Hodgson’s Peaks, a formation that tops the 3,200-metre contour and is notable for a very photogenic rock window.

Roberts Bird Guide, the ‘bible’ for local birdwatchers, rates the cross-border site comprising Sani Pass and Sani Top to be ‘one of the top ten birding spots in southern Africa’. Afroalpine specials readily seen in and around the summit include southern bald ibis, Drakensberg rockjumper, sickle-winged chat, sentinel rock-thrush and Drakensberg siskin, while malachite sunbird flit decorously between the flowering red-hotel pokers that brighten the grounds of Sani Mountain Lodge. Look out, too, for Sloggett’s ice rat, a large endemic burrowing rodent with the endearing squirrel-like habit of sitting upright and raising its forelimbs to its mouth. 

Traditionally, Sani Top tends to be viewed as an end-of-the-road destination offering day visitors from KwaZulu-Natal a short sweet taster of what Lesotho has to offer. However, the recent surfacing of the once infamous road that connects it to Mokhotlong and Maseru means that Sani Top now also forms an excellent gateway to the rest of this magical mountain kingdom.

Travel Tips

Sleeping: The most popular option is Sani Mountain Lodge, which offers the choice of en-suite bungalows or backpacker dorms in a prime location for sunrise views over the pass. Several other lodges lie within a few kilometres of Sani Top.

Eating: Almost everybody ends up having a meal or drink at the cosy pub in Sani Mountain Lodge. If you are self-catering, stock up in advance at the Shoprite supermarket in Mokhotlong or (if coming from South Africa) at the small but well-equipped towns of Underberg or Himeville.

Access: Coming from within Lesotho, Sani Top is the eastern terminus of the A1 that arcs northeast then southeast from Maseru via Leribe, Oxbow and Mokhotlong. This 330km road is surfaced in its entirety and the drive from Maseru should take around six hours.

Coming from South Africa, the 42km ascent from Underberg via Himeville involves a 4x4-only ascent of Sani Pass, and passes several stunning viewpoints, as well as entailing stops at the South African and Lesotho border posts. Allow up to two hours in either direction.

There is no public transport up Sani Pass but several companies in Underberg offer scheduled day tours to Sani Top. Fit travellers might consider ascending or descending on foot or mountain bike - no guide is required

It is also possible to hike or arrange a pony trek from Sani Top to Sehlabathebe National Park, following a 40km, three-day footpath along the escarpment. An experienced local guide and/or GPS and detailed maps are a prerequisite for this route.

Preparations: All travellers coming from South Africa need a valid passport to cross into Lesotho. Guides are recommended for all hikes, since unexpected rain or mist might reduce visibility at any time of year. Guides can be arranged at Sani Mountain Lodge, as can horses for the treks to Thabana Ntlenyana or Sehlabathebe National Park, ideally with at least one day’s notice.