Today was a special day at Malealea Lodge. We had the privilege of meeting Monica and Jana Smits, the daughter and granddaughter of Professor Lucas Smits, whose work helped establish an extraordinary project dedicated to documenting and preserving Lesotho’s ancient rock art. Their visit was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the remarkable history of Project ARAL (Analysis of Rock Art Lesotho) and the dedicated people who have worked to preserve this...
A Wild Afternoon at Malealea Lodge

Here at Malealea Lodge, we’ve recently taken on an exciting new project—starting our very own beehives! Bees play a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems through pollination, and we’re thrilled to support these incredible little workers right here at the lodge. Not only will they help our surrounding gardens thrive, but we’re also hoping to produce our own fresh, locally-made honey. While our buzzing friends are usually peaceful, as you’ll see in the story below, sometimes they remind us who’s really in charge!
It was late afternoon, Lucky was just finishing up the last bit of lawn mowing behind the lodge—completely unaware of the chaos he was about to unleash! I was in the bar doing stock when suddenly, Roxy 🐕 came sprinting in, panicked, with a single bee hot on her heels. Moments later, Bob was tearing up and down the deck, swatting at the bees with his hat and losing his glasses in the process.
Then came Monstuoe and Lucky in their blue overalls, bolting past at full speed! Helgard burst into the bar, covered in stings—ten in total! Meanwhile, Sana and the cleaning ladies, on their way home, found themselves under attack, while the bees also went after the men sitting outside the shebeen. Even the kitchen ladies weren’t spared, taking a few stings themselves. Phoka, just watching the mayhem innocently from the deck, also got targeted!
Thankfully, everyone is okay, and now we can laugh about it. Bob and Helgard can’t stop cracking up—turns out Bob has some serious speed after all! 🐝
Further Reading
We’re excited to share that Malealea Mountain Biking Trails in Lesotho are featured in the first global edition of the World Bike Park Index! 🎉
MALEALEA, LESOTHO — For more than a decade, the road into Malealea has been part of the adventure. For those of us who live and work here, however, it has been much more than that. It is the road that connects our communities to Maseru and Mafeteng. It is the road travelled by children going to school, families going to hospital, farmers transporting their produce, employees travelling to work — and visitors...



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