Founded in 1886 by King Moshoeshoe I’s son Chief Gabasheane Masupha, Teya-Teyaneng is a bustling market town flanked by a pair of sandy shapeshifting tributaries of the Caledon alluded to in its tongue-twisting name (literally ‘Place of Moving Sand’, and often abbreviated to TY).
Locally, Teya-Teyaneng is probably best known as the sporting powerhouse that spawned Lioli Football Club, a four-time winner of the Lesotho Premier League since 2009, and as the birthplace of former Prime Minister Dr. Ntsu Mokhehle.
For tourists, Teya-Teyaneng is renowned as the handicraft capital of Lesotho, housing as it does a clutch of excellent craft cooperatives aimed at the upliftment of local women.
Coming from Maseru, the first cooperative you’ll encounter, set in rolling fields below a golden sandstone escarpment, is Lesotho Mountain Crafts, whose motto Hatooa Mose Mosali loosely translates as ‘Women Step Up and Work Hard’. Lesotho Mountain Crafts specialises in wool and mohair products such as ponchos, scarves, balaclavas, tapestries. It also produces a distinctively Sotho range of cute small dolls depicted carrying babies on their backs or baskets on their heads.
North of the town centre, Elelloang Basali (Be Aware of the Women) is another neat little corporative whose members produce an imaginative selection of well-crafted mohair tapestries as well as a variety of silk products. Elelloang Basali is set in an architecturally intriguing building made almost entirely from recycled soft drink and beer cans, painted red for cohesion on the outside, but with original labels clearly visible from inside the building.
Sleeping: There are a few small hotels and guesthouses in Teya-Teyaneng.
Eating: Teya-Teyaneng boasts a few local-style eateries and hotel restaurants.
Access: Teya-Teyaneng straddles the surfaced A1 about 40km northeast of Maseru and 55km southwest of Leribe. Allow about one hour in either case. Plenty of public transport connects Teya-Teyaneng to Leribe and Maseru.
Preparations: Elelloang Basali is closed on Saturday afternoons and Sundays.
© Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation
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