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Meet Phoka Koatja – Our Barman, Our Mountain Goat 🏔️

This morning at Malealea Lodge, while the world is sitting glued to their screens awaiting the next great moon launch, we quietly conducted a mission of our own…

It began with an unexpected discovery: a highly organised, buzzing “alien colony” had taken up residence inside one of our rooms. Not paying rent. Not checking out. And definitely not following housekeeping schedules.

Enter our elite team, Leon (Thabang) Sesler and Tleki Musi

Dressed in full white suits, helmets down, gloves on — our very own Malealea Astronauts stepped onto the “launch pad”. Ladders were deployed. Equipment checked. Smoker ignited.

“Houston, we have bees.”

With the calm precision of a lunar landing, they ascended. One small step for man… one giant leap away from getting stung.

Below, ground control (a couple of curious onlookers and probably someone holding their breath) watched as the operation unfolded. The hive was carefully opened, the bees gently persuaded that relocation was in their best interest, and then — the jackpot.

Honey. And not just a little. Proper, golden, dripping, winter-saving honey.

At one point, there was even a moment that felt suspiciously like a spacewalk: one beekeeper halfway up the ladder, another reaching out — a slow-motion handover of equipment that could easily have been mistaken for passing a tool outside a spacecraft.

Except instead of orbiting Earth, they were orbiting a thatched rondavel.

And instead of vacuum… there were bees. Lots of bees.

Mission status:
• Crew: safe ✅
• Bees: respectfully relocated ✅
• Honey reserves: successfully extracted (and looking delicious) ✅

By the end of it all, our astronauts returned to Earth (the lawn), slightly sticky, slightly smoky, but triumphant.

So while the rest of the world holds their breath for rockets heading to the moon, we at Malealea are proud to report:

👉 We’ve secured our own liquid gold supply for the winter
👉 Natural remedies for colds and flus are officially stocked
👉 And we’ve proven that you don’t need a billion-dollar space programme to run a successful mission — just a ladder, a smoker, and a lot of bravery

Tonight, as we stir a spoon of that honey into our tea, we remember…

It didn’t come from a supermarket shelf.
It came from a high-risk, astronaut-level extraction mission right here at the lodge.

Mission complete 🌿🍯🚀

Every now and then, we receive feedback about our food that makes me pause, smile a little, and reflect on where we are — and what we offer.

Over the years, we’ve been told our food is “not African enough.” More recently, we’ve been told it’s “not European enough.” And now, occasionally, that the dining room is not decorated enough. In many ways, that perfectly captures the unique space Malealea Lodge occupies.

Dear Partners,

It has come to our attention that visitors are stopping along the road to distribute sweets and biscuits to local children. While we understand this is done with good intentions, we must urgently ask that this practice stop immediately.

Over many years, we have worked closely with community leaders and chiefs to discourage roadside begging. Unfortunately, these actions are undoing that progress and creating serious risks:

Safety: Children are now running alongside buses and vehicles, and we fear that one day there could be a tragic accident.

Community Impact: Giving out sweets encourages begging, which harms both the children and the relationship between our lodge, our guests, and the surrounding villages.

If you would like to donate sweets, biscuits, or any other items, please deliver them to the Malealea Development Trust when you arrive at the lodge. The Trust will ensure they are distributed responsibly and at the right time to children who are genuinely in need.

For the wellbeing of the children and the sustainability of tourism in Malealea, we kindly urge you to instruct all groups and individuals not to hand out sweets or food along the road.

We greatly appreciate your cooperation and understanding in this matter. Together, we can ensure a safe and respectful experience for both guests and the communities we all value.

Kind regards,
Malealea Lodge Team

🌄 A Note From Malealea Lodge — Updated for 2025

Where slow travel meets modern comforts in the Heart of Lesotho

Since Marek wrote the beautiful story below about his stay at Malealea Lodge in February, 2025, a few things have changed here in the mountains — all for the better.

⭐ We’ve upgraded our entire internet system to Starlink, bringing:
• Free Wi-Fi for all guests
• Very high-speed connectivity — even at the “End of the Road”

⭐ We have a new coffee machine
It now makes nearly any style of coffee at the push of a button — flat white, cappuccino, espresso, latte, americano, macchiato — all in seconds. No more soy-milk mysteries from 2023!
(We still have Khothatso’s big smile, though — that part hasn’t changed.)

Even with these upgrades, the essence of Malealea remains exactly the same:
• Quiet mountain mornings (maybe the Hadeedah's can get a bit loud)
• Friendly staff
• Basotho culture woven into every moment
• Sunsets that stop you in your tracks
• Choir songs drifting through the evening air
• A place where people finally exhale and reconnect with themselves

Marek captured that spirit perfectly — the sense of arrival, of solitude, of being welcomed into a community, and the magic of discovering a corner of Lesotho that still feels timeless.

👇 Continue reading below for Marek’s full story — an honest, raw, and heartfelt reflection of arriving at Malealea Lodge before our latest upgrades.