Sehlabathebe

Sehlabatebe - Lesothos only National Park

Sehlabathebe National Park is the only official National Park in Lesotho. Half the fun of the park is getting there, since it is rather remote. You need a 4X4 vehicle but even then you could be stuck going in or out waiting for a river to go down after heavy rains. The average elevation of the park is some 2,400 metres which means you can get altitude sickness.

Lesothos only national park, Sehlabathebe, embraces 6500 hectares in the south-eastern corner of this mountain kingdom. The park, which is under the auspices of the National Park Section of the Department of Conservation and Forestry, was proclaimed in 1981. Its rolling green hills rise up to basalt peaks which top 3000m.

Small numbers of eland, oribi, baboon, Black-backed jackal, wild cat and otter roam the grasslands. Its also an excellent place to see the rare Bearded vulture, or lammergeier, and the Wattled crane. Its most famous resident is, however, the small minnow-like fish, Oreodaimon quathlambae, a species which was thought to be extinct until it was found in the chilly waters of the Tsoelinkana River.