Mohale Dam

It was nice to sleep in on Saturday after what seemed like an extraordinarily busy week at the clinic. It seems they overbooked patients last week in light of the upcoming network BIPAI meeting, which meant that we were seeing over 130 patients daily. Despite our best efforts for a quick turnover, the lobby constantly looked like the TCH ER waiting room back home (translation: a complete disaster zone with children sprawled over every visible tile on the floor while their mothers/grandmothers impatiently waited on the benches, giving us meaner looks with every hour that passed). Feeling like we deserved another outing for our hard work, we booked one of the clinic drivers for a day trip to Mohale this weekend.

My med student roommate and I baked some fresh fruit muffins in anticipation of our trip and bid goodbye to our two other roommates whom were scheduled for departure back to the U.S. that day. When Jamie (our British counterpart) arrived with Limpho, the driver, we jumped in the little white VW that felt so familiar after our adventure last weekend. Much to my surprise, my sunglasses were still sitting in the backseat (I had only noticed they’d been missing that morning…oops!). Limpho (pronounced “Dim-poh”) likes to listen to his music at several decibels above any of our comfort levels, so we quickly abandoned our futile efforts to carry on a conversation by shouting back and forth to each other, and instead sat back, ate our homebaked treats, and jammed out to his eclectic mix of traditional Basotho music/gangster rap/Black-Eyed-Peas/slow R&B hits from the early 90’s.

Views from the drive up

Remote Basotho village on the side of a mountain (each neighboring village is about 15 kilometers from each other)

Similar to last week, we had amazing views of the scenery and villages sprinkled along the foothills as we climbed several hundred feet around the winding roads of the mountains. We arrived in Mohale a little after noon and drove straight to the main attraction - the second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) – also known as the Mohale Dam.

According to The Lonely Planet Travel Guide, "The LHWP is an ambitious scheme developed jointly by Lesotho and South Africa to harness Lesotho’s abundant water sources to provide water to a large tract of Southern Africa and hydropower to Lesotho. The project, being implemented in stages until 2020 will result in several major dams (two of which have been completed, the Katse and the Mohale Dam) with approximately 200km of tunnels interconnecting them."

"The immediate effects of this development include vastly improved roads and telecommunications in the interior of the country, benefiting the residents of many remote villages. However, there are also detrimental effects: flooding of significant portions of Lesotho’s already scarce arable land and potential silting problems; relocation difficulties and corruption prosecutions of international companies involved in the project."

The Mohale Dam was built across the Senqunyane River. It is an impressive 145 meter high, rock filled dam that was completed in 2004. There are commanding views of the lake and massive mountains beyond. There is a Mohale Tunnel through which water can flow for 32km between Mohale and Katse Dams.

When we arrived, we were actually able to arrange a private tour of the facilities for only R10 (about $1.25 USD), which took us inside and around key aspects of the dam.

Our driver, Limpho (far right) trying to negotiate a tour with the facility employees

What was most amazing to me was that while on one side of the dam the lake appeared so tranquil, the other side demonstrated the immense, sheer force at which the water spilled out of the dam. As the water crashed onto the rocks, it splashed a wide diameter around the area, effectively soaking us as though we were standing at the bottom of a waterpark slide.

Afterwards, we drove back up the winding roads and stopped at the Mohale Lodge where we had lunch. Although there were several tantalizing items on the menu, we all ended up ordering the daily special – braised lamb chops with a red wine reduction, and a side of French fries with paprika seasoning. Very delicious. Feeling adventurous, I ordered one of the local beers, Maluti (Sesotho word for “mountain”), to accompany my meal. It tasted a bit like Bud Light, though I’m no beer connoisseur by any means, so I always compare beers to Budweiser brands. I have found that the red wine here is actually quite good, so this has been my beverage of choice whenever we go out.

If you strain a bit, you can see the nice rainbow at the top left side of the hill - a nice ending to our day :)

 Anyways, we arrived back home and took a nice hot shower (now that there’s only 2 of us, there was no frantic rush to shampoo and be out of the shower within 10 minutes for fear of the hot water running out) before climbing in bed.