Travel Notes III - Maphutseng, Lesotho

Coming to Lesotho (pronounced Leh-SOO-too) after being in equatorial Uganda amazed me. I didn’t know Africa could look like this! Check out this photo:


Nope, this isn’t Arizona or Wyoming. It’s Africa!

Oh, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it’s spring here! I was sad to have missed spring at home, but now I get to watch the peach trees blossom, enjoy the fragrance of wisteria and witness to transformation from brown to green.

The old stone mission house where I stay.

What am I doing here? I'm staying at Growing Nations, whose mission is "transformation through sustainable agriculture." I'm learning about conservation agriculture, Farming God's Way (www.farming-gods-way.org), transformational development, and accumulating a myriad of tidbit lessons. :-) I'll write more specifics about what I’ve been doing here, but for now you can enjoy a few photos.

One of the many incredible sunset evenings.

A hike into the hills above our place.

Digging planting holes with local farmers.

Turning the compost pile. It was overdue for turning, so it was a steamy, smelly job.

Soil erosion is a serious problem around here. The gullies you see are called "dongas", created by serioius run-off from overgrazing and ploughed soil.

This donga is over 20 feet deep!

Some of my Growing Nations buddies - Stephen, Adriaan, Petrus, me, Christiaan, and Kitty.