THE HISTORY OF 
MALEALEA LODGE

Merwyn Bosworth Smith, founder of Malealea Trading Store, was born at Harrow School, England in 1878. His father was Assistant Master there for 37 years. Merwyn had five brothers and three sisters. All his brothers were educated at Harrow, but Merwyn went to Rugby, where he excelled at rugby and athletics. He was also a brilliant scholar, writing Latin prose at 14 years old. On leaving school he went to Oxford University.

In about 1898 he came to South Africa and taught/coached rugby at Bishops. This was too tame for him, so he went to try his hand on the Diamond Diggings at Lichtenberg, where he did not have much luck. He decided to join the B.S.A.P. in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), where he said he did not do much police work, as he played rugby most of the time.

At the outbreak of the Boer War, he returned and joined the Dorset Regiment and served throughout the war. At the end of the war, he went to Maseru to visit his brother, Reginald, who had joined the Colonial Service and had been sent to Basutoland as Government Secretary.

Merwyn was fascinated by the country and spent months riding around the country, shooting for the pot, as he went along. One of the places he camped at, was Malealea. He fell in love with the place and decided to open a Trading Station there. He had to return to England to get permission, and was assisted by some of his school companions, who were by now in high places. On returning to Malealea he started in a tent, first building the store and sheds and then starting on the house, which was built of cut stone and under thatch. A swimming pool, covered by thatch, was also built, and a tennis court. As Merwyn was a fanatic for bridge and billiards he had a billiard table brought to Malealea by ox-wagon, as were all the building materials. The big verandah had all his shooting trophies on the walls. Many also hung in the Bloemfontein and Rand Clubs. The lounge and billiard rooms were wood panelled. The lounge was a replica of the lounge at Binghams Melcon Dorset, which was the family house, when his father retired from Harrow.

He was well established, when the 1914 - 1918 war broke out. He returned to England and again joined the Dorset Regiment, who he served with throughout the war. He developed "Trench Leg", which was a problem for the rest of his life. After the war he returned to Malealea and in 1919 got married. These were golden years. Trade flourished and they used to go on shooting safaris in Rhodesia, Caprivi Strip and the Zambezi Valley, - on one occasion, taking Basotho Ponies with them. They also had frequent trips to England to visit his family. They entertained a lot at Malealea and used to ride to Qaba to play tennis with his great friend, Jarvis. Merwyn's wife had a cheetah as a pet, but it had a depressing effect on trade, so was given to the Johannesburg Zoo!!!

The depression years nearly put Malealea out of business, but a Johannesburg friend gave Merwyn 12,000 pound bond to tide him over. many of the local Basotho had credit to buy food during this period and they never forgot "MOFANA" for this. He was called "MOFANA", because when he first arrived he spoke "Fanagalo". Later he spoke Sesotho fluently.

The war years brought prosperity, which continued to his death in 1951. During the war R.A.F. pupil pilots were entertained at Malealea. Pay for serving Basotho in the army was paid out to local families at Malealea. Merwyn arranged that on this day the R.A.F. sent a plane over Malealea to do a few acrobatics and Victory Rolls. At the end of the war, he had name plates made with the name and rank number of all the Basotho, who had fallen in the war. Oak trees from Malealea were planted at the police camp in Maseru and the idea was that each oak tree would have one of the name plates nailed to it.

During and after the war he had two partners, first Scholl, then Crooks. He also had The Falls Store at Maletsunyane, but sold this to Frasers at the end of the war. All supplies went up by pack horse and the mohair, wool and wheat used to come to Malealea in big pack pony trains, and then he classed, graded and sent it off by transport to Rail Head Wepener.

During the last years of Mervyn's life, he used to spend the winter months on the Zambezi at a Shooting Lodge he built. He had rondavels and a motor boat called "Queen Elizabeth". At this stage his one car was called "George" and the other "Elizabeth". He used to go up to Johannesburg for a week just to play Bridge.

All his life he had a passion for road-making and had to make the road from the "Gates of Paradise" to Malealea, to get building supplies to Malealea. In his latter years he used to set off with labourers, spades, picks and wheelbarrows to repair the road. One corner was known as "Tickey Draai" and another as "Sixpenny Draai". The original wording at the "neck" as he called it, was: "Wayfarer Pause Behold The Gates of Paradise". He always did this when he came home to Malealea.

His other passion was letter writing. He used to write to "The Friend" newspaper in Bloemfontein entitled "Basutoland from within", which covered every subject from Incorporation in the Union to strip roads for Basutoland on the Rhodesian Model.

During the Royal Visit the King and Queen were to have visited Malealea, but only the rest of the Royal Party came for a luncheon. The well known BBC announcer Wynfred Vaughn Thomas gave a report of the visit in one of his BBC reports. Mervyn attended all the functions in Maseru and he proudly wore his war medals at the Ex Service Mens Parade. The King stopped to speak to him and said, "I see you served in the SA War, as well as 1914-1918". To which Mervyn replied, "No Your Majesty, not the SA War, I served in the Boer War". A cousin of Mervyn's was one of the Ladies in Waiting to the Queen, so he got a few `behind the scenes' stories of the tour.

Mervyn died suddenly in January 1950 and was buried in the garden, by the Bishop of Basutoland. He had no headstone as Malealea is his memorial. Malealea was left in trust to his son, Anthony, but his partner, Crooks, had an option to purchase under the partnership agreement. After a long and expensive court action in the Supreme Court, it was ruled that the Trust Deed was not valid, because it had not been initialled on one page and Crooks exercised his option to purchase.

Soon after Crooks moved into the big house from the Cottage, the big house burnt down. There is only a bird bath, built out of stone, with ANNO VIC, chiselled around the top, that remains from the original house. Mervyn had this bird bath built at the end of the war "Year of Victory".

Mervyn always maintained that the first thing a person saw, when visiting a Trading Station in Basutoland, was the "Long Drop or Kleinhuisie". He built his, hidden away inside the bank below the house and had a beautiful view of the Thaba Putsoa range of mountains to gaze upon, in complete privacy. It has now been restored.

Many tales were told by Government Officials, Police, Tourists, who used to stay over at Malealea, before trekking into the mountains. They all enjoyed great hospitality at Malealea and if they played Bridge and Billiards, even more so. Snooker was only tolerated for Ladies. The leather bound billiard score books also stand as a diary for important happenings, such as bomb raids over Germany, The Invasion, Visits by Important People etc.

Stories about Mervyn begin with how he used to ride to Maseru of Mafeteng on a pony to play rugby, with an alarm clock tied around his neck, which he would set for half hours ahead, in case he dozed off and could wake up to check if the pony was still on course. He is reputed to have galloped down the gorge into the Ribaneng River, and that path was always known as "Mervyn's Ladder".

AFTER A WILD PARTY IN BLOEMFONTEIN, Mervyn and his friends decided to go back to Malealea to continue the party. A stranger, they had met, came along as well. In the car he was lolling to one side, then to the other side, but no one took any notice of him as they thought he was drunk. On arrival it was found he was DEAD !!! A wake lasting a few days was held and he lay inside on the Billiard Table and was duly buried under the Cherry Trees. Mervyn always referred to the grave as "The Stranger's Grave".

An extract from Kate Cretchley’s version of the Stranger’s death! " I doubt it was the fact that the hitchhiker was DOA when Mervyn and his pals reached the mountain station of Malealea after a fairly lively weekend in Bloemfontein. I also doubt that it caused much of a headache when they stowed the old guy under the snooker table and went ahead with the intended game. However, it must have been a bit annoying to have been awoken by the scream of the early rising housemaid who found the old boy rather difficult to rouse, even when the best Malealea coffee was offered. A wake was held lasting some several days to see the dear departed on his way to the pearly gates, during which time he lay in state on the snooker table, and the grave of this total stranger still can be seen not twenty yards away from that of old Mervyn Smith who, out of the kindness of his heart, brought the old man to die in peace and tranquillity of Malealea, over fifty years ago."

Mervyn and his friend, Kenneth Nolan, were also known to have ridden through the Wepener Hotel on their "Trusting Steeds" !

Keith Jandrell bought Malealea in 1961 from Norman Crooks. Various managers lived at Malealea operating the trading station. An airstrip was built at Malealea and the Jandrell family visited Malealea regularly for week-ends and holidays.

Mick & Di Jones bought Malealea in December, 1986. The idea was to start a very casual lodge and continue with the Trading Station. The Trading Station burnt down on 6th March, 1987 due to a gas deep freeze. As the floors, walls & ceilings were all wood, the shop went up in flames within minutes. Mick was awakened in the early hours of the morning with a comment by the night watchman "There seems to be a small problem at the shop!!!"

An enormous steel structure was erected for the Trading Station - (nicknamed by Simon Fourie, The Malealea Emporium.) Over the years the Trading Station has declined and the lodge has grown from 10 to 60 beds. The shop was made smaller and the space was used to build Bacpackers Accommodation, a games room, a diningroom & kitchen. Over the years, Nick King, an Australian friend, after driving overland trips from London to Harare, has spent a couple of months at Malealea renovating the lodge.

Pony Trekking was started at Malealea in February, 1991. Di, Caroline, James & Sonja pony trekked into the mountains on a 6 day recce trip with Simon Mokala, now one of the main pony trekking guides for the various overnight treks. Cultural Tourism has developed at Malealea.

A Pony Trekking Association has been formed, a committee is elected and a percentage of the income for trekking is kept in a fund. This is used to buy equipment for the association, for example saddlery, bridles, saddle blankets, etc. In the meantime to get the trekking on its way, the horse owners use their own saddlery until stocks build up over the years. We hand the bookings to the association every week and they organize which horses and guides take the treks. Horse Owners have realized the importance of strong and healthy horses. One day a German Tour Operator wanted to have a look at the horses used for the trekking. We asked a Basotho Guide to bring his best horse. Well when we went to have a look at it, to us it was the scruffiest, untidiest looking horse. On questioning the guide, he informed us that "Sister" was their best and strongest horse for getting up the mountain passes. We have since had reports from clients that "Sister" is indeed the best horse they have ridden.

Guides are learning to communicate and speak broken English with their visitors. One particular bright young guide often asks the clients the meanings of words he does not understand and immediately tries to use the words in further conversations. One couple were so pleased with their trek, they took their guide to the Lesotho Sun for lunch. This was an experience of a lifetime for someone who previously had only been herding cattle & sheep. There are a quite a few young & older guides who have managed to build their own houses from income received for guiding and hiring out their horses. Horses arrive from all directions and eventually, almost on time, the treks set off: - Clients, Pack Horses and Guides into the distant mountains. "Amongst this confusion of horses there seems to be some sort of organized chaos," mused a client.

Within the first half hour of the pony trek, nerves are tested by going down the gorge to the Makhaleng river. One way of doing it, it is said is to "Close your eyes, hold tightly onto your horse and pretend not to hear the rocks rolling down the mountainside." But you needn’t be worried, the Guides are excellent in the way they coax the horses and nervous clients down the gorge and across river.

En route to the remote villages you come across magnificent scenery and are often lucky enough to come across various activities,

a) Like boys preparing for initiation school.
b) Bali Girls and
c) A Sangoma throwing her bones.
d) It is etiquette for the guides to introduce the visitors the chiefs of the various villages and to inform them of their destination. As the areas are really remote, the children are curious to see the visitors. It is as if the circus has come to town!!!
e) Local traditions are explained to visitors as they pass by villages. When passing a certain place, (generally between two hills) where there is a heap of small stones piled together, one should pick up another stone alongside the path, spit on it and throw it on the heap. This is an omen of good luck and good eating along the journey and at the destination. Common mountains of Sefikeng and Sefikaneng derived their names from such big heaps made there in olden times.

J BASOTHO HUTS HIRED FROM THE VILLAGES in really remote areas of Lesotho. Half the accommodation fee is paid to the owner of the hut and the balance is kept in a fund for buying equipment for old and new huts opening as the trekking gets busier. The huts at this stage are equipped with mattresses on the floor, gas cookers, very basic pots & pans and a bucket of water.

Arriving at the hut in the late afternoon, in time to see the herdboys returning with the cattle & sheep, which are kept in the kraal nearby the huts where you stay. Firewood is scarce on the high mountain ranges, so fire is made from scrub and dried out cow-dung. The meals are prepared in large three-legged black pots.

The children often sing for visitors in the evenings and are rewarded. This is still spontaneous and just seems to happen without any rehearsals. Come morning, the sounds of the cocks crowing, donkeys braying, cows mooing and pigs grunting gently wakes you up. No chance of a late morning sleep, but the spectacular sunrise is more than enough compensation for this sacrifice.

There are many stories of delightful experiences in the villages. There is the story of the hen sitting on her eggs in the window-sill of a hut. Another group later reported that the chicks and hen still occupied the window-sill. Another group told with great relish of the chief who offered them home-made beer from a large black drum. Suddenly the donkey came along and also had a drink of beer from the same drum!!!

J BASOTHO CHILDREN ARE ENCOURAGED TO TAKE CLIENTS ON HIKES. T

here are many places of interest at the various villages and for a small fee, visitors will be guided by the local villagers to these sights. Back at base camp, Basotho children are encouraged to take clients on short hikes to Gorges, Bushman Paintings Etc, so gaining experience to be future overnight trekking guides. Staying at the different villages affords an extra income for the villagers and we have feedback that they enjoy hosting the visitors.

So for example will different coloured plastic bags attached to a pole outside the huts indicate various products for sale. Catering for Tourism is developing as the Basotho people have the opportunity of growing and cooking their own food for resale to visitors.

For guests not wanting to pony trek, there are various other forms of encouraging local tourism by making use of local transport:

1) There is hiking in the company of innovative inventors,
2) Coming in on wings and a prayer,
3) In Style,
4) An environmental friendly merc or
5) Rowing down the river.

A particularly pleasant experience is the friendliness and helpfulness of the Basotho people. There is the story of the family whose car broke down in a remote area. A Basotho man took them into their village and then gave them a lift to Maseru in his "Clapped out Bakkie". He was most informative about daily happenings and culture in the villages and turned out to be a talented tour guide. This was actually the highlight of the family’s stay in Lesotho. From Maseru they then hired a local taxi back to the lodge late that night and again found the taxi owner to be a natural tour operator.

The Keg Group tells of their delightful and unexpected pleasure when doing a pub crawl in the village shebeens. The Basotho Shebeens were so welcoming and honoured that our guests were visiting them, they wanted to kill a sheep there and then and great cultural interaction took place. The bar was then named "The Keg & Pere", which is the Sesotho name for Horse.

I was once photographing a herdboy with his sheep & goats. I jokingly said to him, "Please make your goats move to another area." With that he took out his "Basotho Leseba" (kind of a flute), whistled and played a tune. The goats were directed to where we wanted them to go.

While I was on the original 6 day recce trip with two friends and a Basotho Guide, Tseliso, we must have set off in one of the highest rainfall seasons in Lesotho. On the third day, while riding in three hours of solid rain to our next hut destination, we all decided we had had enough and asked Tseliso if we could get back a day earlier. He shook his head and said there was no way and the horses plodded along. I then said to Tseliso " How about if we pay you for a 6 day trek, but we get home in 5 days!!!" Well from that moment the horses just took off and we got home a day earlier. On the trek Chief Puli sent us a tray of tea in his best enamel tea pot and mugs, decorated with flowers. His village is called "Sekoting sa lifarike" (which means, "The trough which the pigs dug," as this valley is surrounded by a magnificent ring of mountains,)

J LINKING CONFERENCES WITH CULTURAL TOURISM.

WHY DO ORGANIZATIONS ARRANGE CONFERENCES IN FOREIGN ENVIRONMENTS ?

The Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho may be rough and tough, but it is at the same time as gentle as a spring flower, soft as the summer grass covering the undulating hills, refreshing as a sparkling mountain stream in autumn and awesome and austere as a winter landscape. Whatever your choice of climate may be, Lesotho can provide. Of particular value is the quiet nearness of nature offering the overworked and over stressed a tranquility nowhere else to be equaled. This makes Lesotho the ideal venue for conferences, because it forces people to leave behind their day to day routines so restricting for creative and innovative thinking. People caught in ruts are so busy fighting for their daily survival in competitive environments that they can’t afford to risk replacing old ideas with new ones for fear of failure. Trekking in Lesotho restores those long forgotten feelings of daring and adventure.

WHAT MAKES LESOTHO SO DIFFERENT?

Well take those same life weary people and throw them into the cultural environments and experiences of a Lesotho Trek and they cannot but open their eyes and minds to the people around them, who behave differently, have different needs, priorities and goals in completely different circumstances. Yet the observer is surprised to find that the challenges are the same: Survival: Profit: Competition: & Quality of Life.

The discovery of this awareness inadvertently opens the eyes and suddenly, standing the clear crisp dawn you find that you are beginning to think differently. While you marvel at the quaintness of the people around you, you find that you are actually learning from them. Of course, facing the adventures of a trek is excellent for team building. All in all, there will be times when a pony trek in Lesotho, may force you to close your eyes and there will be times when it will open your eyes. Either way you return to your own environment with a greater energy and a new outlook on life. 

KHOTSO, PULA, NALA. --  PEACE, RAIN & PROSPERITY - 

"AN EXTRACT OF A TREK REPORT, OCTOBER 1991, INDICATING THE RESPONSIBILITY THE GUIDES HAVE ON THESE PARTICULAR TREKS" Rough, tough and very, very different is this "Roof of Africa" trek into the Lesotho mountains. It must be hiking as it was many years ago - no detailed trail maps, no laid out trails with markers. no log cabins with toilet and braai facilities. Instead your guide (on pony) obtains the frequent help of the villagers as to the best way up the mountainsides, or across the many river crossings, and then negotiates, on your behalf, with the local chief for a suitable hut for that particular overnight stay !!! Plenty of drinking water is supplied, and even cleaning the mud off your hiking boots is included in the princely sum of R15.00 per person !!!!

There is no need to cater down to the last dehydrated pea, as the other Basotho Bay which accompanies the group is our pack-horse. It carries huge leather panniers into which are packed your food supplies, clothing and all other "MEDICINAL" requirements for the trek. The Pack Horse amazes all by the remarkable feats it performs in defying the laws of gravity on the many treacherous ascents and descents.

The "Glamour" of the trek lies in the innumerable mountain peaks, valleys, waterfalls, streams and rivers which are relatively unspoilt by mankind and mot least of all the very friendly locals. Lesotho is truly a country of water which is evident everywhere. We were unfortunate to be there during the highest rainfall recorded in the past 100 years !!! The last two days were a race to beat the fast rising rivers. Our crossing of the Makhaleng River could only be achieved by boat. Not so lucky for the horses who had to swim across the raging river. After a hard swim they arrived on the other side apparently no worse for wear as they began grazing almost immediately!!! We safely made our way to the comfort of the Malealea Lodge, which was our base, and left our rural guide in wonderment as to why these crazy hikers pushed on through the pouring rain, rather than rest up in a mountain hut and take another week or two to complete the trek when the weather cleared!!! At the end of it all the question is - Is it worth it? The answer is a very definite YES!!! The long treks are not recommended for the faint-hearted - but then the trail can be tailored for your individual requirements.

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