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Lesotho boasts numerous cooperatives and other outlets where visitors can watch Basotho craftspeople at work and buy the quality basketwork, textiles and other handicrafts for which they are renowned.

The national symbol of Lesotho is the mokorotlo straw hat. This tall tapering item of traditional headwear is made from moseea, an indigenous specie of robust thatching grass often seen from the roadside at higher altitudes. The distinctive shape of the mokorotlo is believed to mimic Mount Qiloane, a conical mountain whose outline is prominent from King Moshoeshoe I’s former capital at Thaba Bosiu.

The mokorotlo appears on the national flag of Lesotho, as well as on car license plates countrywide. Its iconic shape is the inspiration behind Maseru’s most famous landmark, the thatched Basotho Hat building, which happens to house the capital’s best-known craft shop, Lesotho Co-operative Handicrafts. This is a good place to buy your own mokorotlo, along with a range of other locally-made handicrafts and souvenirs.

Lesotho is famed for its hand-crafted wool and mohair products. These include blankets, scarves and ponchos - ideal for keeping out the chilly highland winter air - as well as shoulder bags, tapestries, cushion covers and the like.  In Leribe, the Craft Centre is an outlet for a philanthropic Anglican Church project that provides employment to women in need and is the kingdom’s oldest and best source of products made with 100% mohair, a superior wool-like fabric made from the hair of Angora goats

Not far from Leribe, Teya-Teyaneng is the handicraft capital of Lesotho, housing as a pair of admirable women’s craft cooperatives that sell silk, wool and mohair products, including a delightfully distinctive Sotho range of cute woollen dolls.

Handicrafts aside, self-caterers will find that Maseru has a good range of supermarkets selling a varied selection of provisions. The choice is more limited outside the capital, but Shoprite, the country’s largest supermarket chain, has outlets in a few larger towns, including Hlotse, Mokhotlong, Mafeteng and Mohale’s Hoek.