The tiny kingdom of Lesotho is the unlikely venue for ambitious plans to create the number one destination for skiers in Africa.
“This is going to be the biggest ski resort in Africa,” says Ollie Esplin, manager of the Afri-Ski resort, as he tries to explain how to minimise the risks of meltdown in Lesotho’s picturesque Mahlasela Valley.
“When you make a ski slope, especially in Africa, it must be facing south where it receives the least sun,” adds Esplin as skiers on a break from neighbouring South Africa snake down the single slope currently in operation.
While the exact numbers of visitors to Afri-Ski are unknown, 5Â 000 people came through the local ski shop to rent or buy equipment last winter, which was only the second season that it had been open for business.
Eventually the resort will have five ski slopes ranging from red (medium difficulty) to blue (easy), about 100 ski chalets and one of the highest altitude golf courses on the planet at 3Â 300m above sea level.
Several chalets imported from the small Baltic state of Estonia already dot the mountainside, but the flavour of Africa is never far away with cattle-drawn carts and traditional mud huts running alongside the hairpin road that leads to the resort.
Billed by tourist chiefs as the Switzerland of the South, landlocked Lesotho is, in fact, one of the poorest countries in Africa with most people having to eke out a living on subsistence agriculture.
The R400 fee for a four-hour ski lesson is well beyond the budget of most locals in a country where salaries average less than a thousand dollars a year, but the tourists have provided a shot in the arm to the economy.
“Our main clients are from Gauteng and we are bringing a lot of tourists into Lesotho,” says Esplin.
Royal approval
The resort has received royal approval from Lesotho’s King Letsie III, who has given his name to the annual King’s Cup skiing and snowboarding and has visited the resort during the event.
Billy Becker, visiting from Pretoria, was thrilled by the proximity of the resort.
“It’s my first day today,” said Becker, who came to the slope to snowboard.
“It’s very comfortable, only four hours’ drive, and it’s stunning. The drive up to the place is brilliant, with the mountains covered in snow.”
Lebohang Ramonotse, from nearby Butha-Buthe in Lesotho, is one of the few locals who have ventured on to the slope, enrolling for his first lesson from the resort’s only black instructor, South African Charles Mositoane.
It is hoped the resort will create many opportunities for locals like Ramonotse, who works in the ski shop.
“It’s a big thing to us, even though the majority of us don’t see this opportunity,” Ramonotse tells Agence France-Presse after a run down the slope. “Now everybody can see the world I can see.”
The Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation says tourism contributes 2,4% of the country’s gross domestic product, with about 300Â 000 people visiting the country in 2005.
According to a ski travel expert, the only other ski resort in Africa is the popular Tiffendell in South Africa’s Eastern Cape mountains, which has three slopes and charges R1Â 205 for a four-hour lesson.
Afri-Ski, which may prove closer and cheaper to skiing hopefuls from Gauteng, has, however, “done very little publicity”, he said.
In Lesotho, where the main tourism attractions are pony trekking in the mountains or hiking, Mositoane loves the fact that Africans get to enjoy the slopes.
“For them it’s a lot of fun, it’s a lot closer to where they live. They are like, yo, we couldn’t believe it when people said there is a resort here in Lesotho.”
According to Esplin, skiers have actually been using the slope since the 1970s, as the area has at least one good snowfall a year, before an Austrian and South African partnership decided to go ahead and build the resort.
“The nicest thing is it’s in the middle of nowhere, not like European resorts. This is Africa,” he adds.
With business booming, the management team wants to make the resort an all-year destination with plans under way for a health spa and a high-altitude training facility for athletes and cyclists.
Those less inclined to take to the slope can also go fishing for trout in the nearby Motete River. — AFP
