The Nice Guy’s Guide To Meeting Women In Lesotho

Lesotho is a beautiful mountainous landlocked country in the middle of South Africa. It’s one of the official 193 countries in the world, thus it deserves its own dating guide. Let’s do some pioneering into the topic of Lesotho women as well as its strong masculine culture.

Some call Lesotho the “Switzerland of Africa”. Though they’ve obviously never been to Armenia. Switzerland is a wealthy country, and Lesotho has more in common with poverty-stricken Armenia. The capital of Lesotho is Maseru, situated directly next to the main border post to South Africa.

Lesotho Women

Lesotho women are genetically pure to their Basotho nation roots. Throughout the past centuries, there haven’t been much genetic or racial mixing. However, I suspect the Lesotho women are not the main reason you want to visit Lesotho. But if it was, and you are looking for a black Basotho wife, then you would not be disappointed.

Generally, if you hate curves on a women, don’t come to Lesotho for dating. However, some of the local black girls are extremely fit in Maseru. It depends if you like black girls. If you do want to date the black Lesotho women, start by flirting with the hotel or guesthouse receptionists. There is also the friendly waiters in the restaurants and coffee shops. Plus, the shopping malls, especially Pioneer Mall is a very decent mall.

The Peace Corps organization often attracts American girls to teach English to the Lesotho locals. I’ve met some of these girls in Cape Town. Then I’m surprised when they say they live in Lesotho for a year or two. Because for me there is barely an incentive to go there for 3 or 4 nights. But these girls are passionate about teaching. Its an opportunity for them to gain experience in an unusual exotic place.

Lesotho women are warm and welcoming to foreigners. A typical man may be wondering if “they’ll get dirty with you?”. In the “big” city, Maseru, I’m convinced they will. But they do seem more conservative in the countryside. Still, if you check out the Basotho masculinity proverbs in the bottom of this article, it does seem like a promiscuous culture. Thus, anything can happen.

Either way, most of the locals appear friendly and respectful to foreigners. They value their tourism industry, which brings money and jobs into their country. Locals speak two languages: Sesotho and English.

Lesotho Background

Lesotho does feel like a different country than South Africa. It’s got it’s own currency, pegged 1:1 to the South African Rand. It used to be a British protectorate. And wasn’t colonized by the Dutch. Thus, architecture and the vibe is different. It’s relatively peaceful. There’s less crime than South Africa.

Here and there some locals will try to hustle you. For example, they first wash your car without asking permission, then afterwards demand some money for the washing. Or they take photos of you with a camera, when you really don’t need any photos, then charge you money afterwards for the service.

The rugged mountain landscape made Lesotho too difficult to colonize. The blacks in the country side, unto today, live a peaceful subsistence farming existence. It’s an idyllic existence. However, there’s no economy if the farming is mostly only subsistence and for the local community. And if there’s no economy, there’s no money to fix potholes in the roads, build tourism infrastructure, etc.

Before arriving, I was concerned it could be like Salvador in Brazil, where it feels unsafe at night in the downtown city-centre’s shady Airbnbs. However, the guesthouses of Maseru felt very safe as a man. The staff very friendly and reassuring that Lesotho is not like the violent neighbor: South Africa. This is despite the fact that I was the only white guy in all these guesthouses, and in Maseru in general. It didn’t feel unsafe.

The Dutch didn’t colonize Lesotho, but nowadays, you could say China is colonizing Lesotho along with the rest of Africa. China buys influence through infrastructure projects such as building roads. This indebts African countries to China. Thus, China gradually owns Africa.

For South Africans its not really exotic in Lesotho. For slick tourism escapes, there are much better places in South Africa to visit, e.g. the South Coast. However, if you wanna visit every country in the world, you’re forced to tick Lesotho off. The only strong selling point of Lesotho, is the beautiful natural landscapes of the magical mountain kingdom. It’s a more raw form of tourism. Sometimes you get bored of slick “1st world” tourism, and want to experience nature instead. This is a good reason to check out Lesotho. But don’t go there for the wrong reason: E.g. to see the city (Maseru) …lol.

Whites in Lesotho?

Namibia had a lot of white influence, since it used to be part of Apartheid South Africa. But Lesotho has extremely few whites. Maybe an adventurous business man here and there. A white man with a black Basotho girlfriend. Otherwise, a handful of white tourist couples in the upmarket shops or restaurants. But generally, Lesotho is more than 99% black. However, if you were the one white guy in Lesotho, the vibe I got is you’ll be accepted by the friendly locals, anyway.

Lesotho Romantic Escape

Lesotho is a great honeymoon destination. Because it feels so outlandish to have this small under-developed mountain country in the middle of another country. You will feel like it’s a romantic couples escape or honeymoon up “in the sky”. Or at least, in the mountains. Thus, you’ve got your bubble of love with your girlfriend. To make memories and conceive your first child. You could stay at Avani Hotel & Casino in Maseru for a luxury escape with your girlfriend. They can help you organize a few activities in the countryside.

Lesotho: Getting There

Maseru is more or less:

• 12 hours drive from Cape Town
• 11 hours from Stellenbosch
• 2 hours from Bloemfontein
• 5 hours from Johannesburg

There is an airport in Lesotho’s capital, which has flights to and from Johannesburg. It’s inexpensive if you live in the Joburg area. However, if you live anywhere else in South Africa, you’ll need a connecting flight in Joburg, thus it works out expensive. In that case, consider flying to Bloemfontein, rent a car at their airport, sort out the cross-border documentation for the vehicle, and drive the 1 and a half hour to Maseru’s border.

Ideally you need a 4×4 vehicle to explore the rugged terrain, without getting car breakdowns. So, you could book a trip with a local tour organizer, for a day or 2. However, if you drive slow and stick to the main arterial tar roads, your regular car will be OK. The only place where I had a lot of difficulty driving was the final stretch up to Semonkong Lodge and Maletsunyane Waterfall. Miraculously, my car survived this stretch without damage.

Typical Expensive Africa

Lesotho doesn’t have much tourist infrastructure. Thus it’s a little expensive. But this is typical of Africa:

• There aren’t youth hostels, thus you are forced to book a guesthouse or a hotel room.
• The local food is very low quality, thus you visit expensive restaurants instead.
• There aren’t trains or quality bus networks, thus you must rent a car. You could try the local’s taxis, but this would be difficult with luggage. Though solely a backpack will be OK.

Anyway, you end up spending a little more than you expect in Lesotho.

Lesotho Hack For Day-Trippers

If you want to up your tally of “countries visited”, but don’t feel like thoroughly planning out a drawn out visit to Lesotho, there is another way.

You could also visit Lesotho from the other side of South Africa. Stay over in a guesthouse in Underberg town. This is close to the rural “gravel road” borders of Lesotho. There you’ll find day-tours which includes a visit to the famous Highest Pub in Africa, situated in Lesotho. But it doesn’t include the capital: Maseru. Check out the current price over at GetYourGuide here for such a daytrip. Why this one:

• They’ve got 24 great reviews.
• It’s a more social way to visit Lesotho with other foreigners in a 4×4.
• No Planning is required. Buy the ticket. Show up at Underberg at the meeting spot. And in the next 24 hours you get a +1 notch for countries visited.
• If needed, cancel anytime upto 24 hours beforehand.
• It’s cheap compared to what you’ll pay if you visit Lesotho via the Maseru Bridge border.
• Did I mention the highest pub in Africa?

There is an Option B with a rival tour company. Main difference: They’ve only got 11 great reviews (vs 24 above). But they’re even cheaper and may be equally good. Here’s the Option B link to see their price at GetYourGuide.

Maseru Daygame

Around the Basotho Hat tourist store is decent to walk around. Yeah it’s 3rd world, but it didn’t feel terribly unsafe. Otherwise, Pioneer Mall looked like the best mall. Maseru mall was nothing special. There are a few more malls to check out. Otherwise, flirt with the hired guns everywhere. These girls look educated, friendly and intelligent.

Perhaps you’ll also find girls to approach while visiting a few local Lesotho attractions such as below:

• Maletsunyane Falls
• Lion Rock Mountain Maseru
• The casinos in Maseru.
• Piripiri Restaurant had great food e.g. Lesotho’s trout. But otherwise, in general, the food is trashy in Maseru. In the countryside maybe it’s better.
• Winter skiing at Afriski. Afriski Resort also has dorms and backpacking facilities.
• Pony trekking.
• Thaba Bosiu cultural village. This is where the photographer will hustle you in exchange for unneeded photos.
• Semonkong lodge. Easy access point to Maletsunyane waterfall: 1 hour walking distance. Looks like an upmarket place to stay for foreigners. There’s a dorm option. They can help you also hike to the bottom of the waterfall, do pony rides, abseil the waterfall, etc.
• Sani Pass.
• The Highest Pub In Africa. Only accessible with a 4×4.

Online Dating in Lesotho

• AfricanLove: New app for Africa-specific dating.
• Tinder: There are only black girls in Lesotho’s Tinder. A handful of white girls show up in Maseru, but they live in Ladybrand (South Africa), 10 km’s away across the border, and not in Lesotho. The amount of black girls on Maseru’s tinder is decent, especially with a wide radius setting. However, it is a fraction of the amount of girls you’ll find in e.g. Namibia’s capital (Windhoek), or in South Africa’s cities.
• Bumble: Inactive. There was zero activity in Maseru.

Small Caveat: There are high HIV rates of 25% in Lesotho. My own view, as terrain theorist, is that HIV is a scam like Covid. They kill you with the antiretroviral medication. Its not HIV that kills you. However, I do use condoms anyway, and I suggest you do the same, especially in Lesotho.

Not Much Nightlife in Maseru

Cuban Linx (short video clip below) is the number one clubbing option. I paid 50 Loti to enter, and it was only blacks inside. Two black girls came up to me, and said: “We wanted to say hi”. In the same way you as a white man would sometimes pick up chicks, these chicks were now trying to pick me up. They weren’t fat, repulsive or anything negative, but I wasn’t into them, thus I simply blew them off.

The black guys looked friendly in the club. However, since I was driving a lot in the daytime, and of course I also drove to the club from my guesthouse, I didn’t feel like drinking. I wanted my mind as clear as possible throughout my trip.

I found a very useful bar guide on Jonny Blair’s blog. The Maseru bars which he mentions is mostly hotel bars, e.g. a place where he could watch the soccer matches. Thus its nothing special compared to the huge amount of bars in South Africa’s largest cities.

My guesthouse owner also recommended The Market on a Saturday night at the Maseru Mall. However, I visited around noon earlier that day, and their food menu was too mediocre. So I didn’t feel like going again that night. However, maybe you could go there for a beer and a few laughs on a Saturday night, as they’re open late.

Conclusion: Lesotho Ladies

The problem with Lesotho’s women is partly that I am very much more into Eastern European girls. Thus, why would I spend more than a few days in Lesotho, when I could be staying for months in countries like Russia, Georgia, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia or even Khazakstan. But as e.g. an European or an American, Lesotho can be that place for you, where you stay for a year in an African Mountain enclave. Then maybe you’ll even meet a friendly conservative Lesotho wife to settle down and have kids with.

Appendix: Lesotho Masculinity Proverbs

There’s an interesting academic paper about Lesotho’s Masculinity culture (by Prof Mashige – link at bottom). He lists and translates famous Basotho sayings, then explains the pros and cons of those idioms. For example:

1. A lion has many places at which it rests: A proverb explaining promiscuity and polygamy in Lesotho.
2. A hungry vulture roams about: If you’re hungry, find a way to feed your stomach. It can also be interpreted sexually.
3. A bull is known by the scars: Pride in the battle. South African culture has a similar saying: Chicks dig scars. However, the Sotho version takes it to a further extreme by encouraging actively seeking out battles and scars. This isn’t smart in modern society, as we want to be a positive, well-functioning and advanced society. But in Ancient Lesotho, it helped the Sotho’s defend their mountain kingdom. Rather apply this to your sport of choice e.g. if you play rugby, boxing, football, etc.
4. A man is a pumpkin he spreads all over: Referring to spreading his seed in many women. They’d praise a man who has children outside of wedlock as a “real man”.
5. Man’s stick gets broken at war: If a Basotho man dies of an STD, it will be as honourable as dying while fighting in a war.
6. Man’s beauty is to die at a concubine’s place: Even if the man dies in pursuit of multiple sex partners, it would be wonderful. The man is fulfilling his sexual purpose. Thus, it’s simply shameless male sexuality, some would say it’s Chauvinism. But then again, all successful masculine cultures have strong elements of chauvinism. While men get feminised in the West nowadays. Thus the West dies out. However, as the professor pointed out, this is also partly a bad proverb, as it can lead to recklessness, the destruction of families, fights between husband and wife, fatherless kids, etc.
7. A man is a black iron: In Sotho culture, men are expected to take up very difficult tasks. Otherwise they’ll be shamed and compared to women.
8. A persons bull is not chosen: Men are compared to animals like bulls. This can have varying meanings, but also for example: if you as a virile man, pick up girls, cold approach 100 women, then you are acting like a male bull, which is worthy of respect. “A man who behaves like a bull is both feared and revered”. It’s also about fighting for what you want. In Sotho culture, this may include illegal fighting, violence and potentially even rape. However, these things are very detrimental to society and to yourself. It’s the reason why the 3rd world is the 3rd world. It’s also the reason why Africa’s prisons are too full. This is also what the professor is trying to point out with his analysis of these sayings. To help Basotho’s reflect on the culture which may have been ingrained upon them. In the same way, you as Westerner can also reflect on your own culture. In the end, Jesus Christ is the only solution for both Lesotho and the West.

Below find the full link and citation to Professor Mashige’s excellent research paper. Above is mostly my commentary on his brilliant and fascinating research.

https://www.academia.edu/2765155/Male_oriented_proverbs_in_Sesotho

Mashige, M. C. (2011). Male-oriented proverbs in Sesotho. Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies 21 (2).

Have you been to Lesotho, or do you want to visit? Do you think Lesotho women are hot? Comment below your thoughts, questions or suggestions for fellow readers!

Here’s a map with a few helpful pointers for Maseru / Lesotho: