Chapter 4 Figure 4.1
4.1 Introduction to Lesotho's physical relief
Lesotho is geographically located between 28 and 31 degrees south and between 27 and 30 degrees east; thus lying outside the south tropical zone. This situation has a great influence on Lesotho's climate, with related negative impacts on the agricultural base of the country. With a physical area of 30,350 square kilometres it is one of the smallest countries in Southern Africa. This small size greatly affects the quantity of the available natural resources of the land.
Lesotho forms an enclave in South Africa, bordered in all directions by four of the Provinces of South Africa: Orange Free State on the West and North, Qwaqwa and Natal on the East and Cape Province and Transkei on the South. (Figure 4.1) This landlocked position has historically placed Lesotho at the inevitable socio-economic mercy and political whims of her giant neighbour, the Republic of South Africa.
Being situated in the highest part of the Drakensberg escarpment and on the eastern rim of the Southern African Plateau, Lesotho is the only country globally which has all of its land surface more than 1000 metres above sea level. Lesotho has the highest mountain peaks in Southern Africa such as Thabana-Ntlenyana in the eastern Drakensberg escarpment with an altitude of 3482 metres. However, this position of the country at a high altitude has negatively contributed to the extremes of climate, limited size of the available arable land and has caused uneven distribution of population and unbalanced socio-economic development between the highland and lowland regions of the country.
Lesotho is divided into four physical regions based on the differences in land surface elevations, landforms, climatic conditions and socio-economic infrastructures available,
such as the tarred roads, improved water supply, sanitation and communication networks. These physical regions are: The Maluti mountains or Highlands, the Western Lowlands, the Senqul Orange River valley and the Foothills. However, in regard to the thesis, the two most important regions are the Western Lowlands and the Maluti Mountains (Figure 2.2).
As the name implies, the Lowland region that forms the western part of the country, is a relatively low lying region. It is relatively well developed and consists of the major towns including the capital, Maseru. Other administrative towns arranged from North to south, are Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Berea and Mafeteng,Mohaleshoek and Quthing on the far southern boundary of the country with the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
ii The Maluti mountain region consists ofthe north-eastern districts of Mokhotlong (in which the study area of Mapholaneg Catchment is located),Thaba-Tseka and Qachasneck. Figure 4.1 shows the enclave position of Lesotho in Southern Africa and the study area of Mapholaneng in the eastern part of Lesotho.
4.2 The position and topography of Mapholaneng Study Area
Mapholaneng Catchment is found in the north west of the Mokhotlong District in the eastern Maluti mountains. The geological formation of the catchment is basaltic lava, forming part of the Drakensberg escarpment (Figure 4.2). The Drakensberg escarpment rises above 1000 meters and therefore delineates the whole eastern boundary of Mohlotlong district with KwaZulu-Natal, hence making access into Lesotho very difficult from this region.
The physical shape of Mokhotlong district in which Mapholaneng is located is largely defined by the drainage of the fast flowing rivers such as the Orange, Mokhotlong and Khubelu that have their sources within Mokhotlong district. These rivers have produced steep-sided, V-shaped, narrow valleys in which settlements and farms are established.
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Figure 4.1: The position of Lesotho in Southern Africa relative to South Africa's Historic mining areas of migrant labour employment from
Lesotho (Source: After Crush and James, 1995)
Moreover, the Malimatso river on which the conspicuous Lesotho Highland water Scheme is built also has its source on the boarder of Mokhotlong with KwaZulu-Natal.
In addition, Mount Aux Source (3282m) and the highest mountain range in Southern Africa, the Thabana-Ntlenyana Mountains(3482m), are also located along the eastern escarpment in Mokhotlong district. These mountains also serve as sources for other rivers that flow into South Africa, including the Wilge River which flows into the Orange Free State through Qwa-Qwa and Tugela River which flows into KwaZulu-Natal.
The small rural village of Mapholaneng lies in the north west of the Mokhotlong district in eastern Lesotho. The village consists of a few hundred homesteads which extend over the Mapholaneng valley and over the low hills between Mapholaneng, Mabunyaneng and the Malube-Iube Rivers (Figure 3.1). The latter river forms a boundary with Sebera village in the South of Mapholaneng up to the hills surrounding Khukhune villages. Also running parallel from the confluence of the Khubelu and Malube-Iube rivers up to the sources of the latter river in Thaba-chitja uplands is the Maitisi ridge which runs along the south-western boundary of the catchment. The landscape in Mapholaneng is a part of the eastern region which is volcanic in origin and consists of basaltic surfaces. The landscape in Lower Mapholaneng, particularly in the villages of Motete, Meketeng, Polomiti and Makalieng is undulating and consists of the low-level Mapholaneng Plateau between the Malube-Iube and Khubelu rivers in the north and Mabunyaneng in the south-west (Figure 3.1).
4.3 Climate 4.3.1 Temperature
The climate of Lesotho is basically influenced by factors of latitude, altitude, winds and the aspect of land. For example, in the Western Lowlands, the mean temperature varies from 21 degrees Celsius in summer to 7 degrees Celsius in winter, while the Eastern Region has a bleak climate of low temperatures and precipitation, depending on the nature of the mountain shape and slope. Figure 4.3 shows the varying conditions of precipitations from the west to the east of the country in summer and in winter, influenced by altitude and position of the Lowlands and the Highland.
77
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(Source: After S. Kabi, 1998; Mokhotlong Agric Office)
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Figure 4.3: Annual precipation in Lesotho (Source: After Mcleod, 1995)
79 The micro-climatic conditions of Mapholaneng are more or less the same extremes experienced in the mountainous region of the country. Summers are relatively cool and warm while winters can be very cold. Mapholaneng, being positioned only 10 kilometres away from Letseng la trae (3050m), has very cold weather conditions. For example, due to its relatively high altitude, Letseng la trae has a mean of 7.1°c in July while temperatures for the summer season in December are never above 15.5°c (Mcleod,1995). According to Ambrose (1976) during winter months, Letseng la trae often experiences night temperatures that are below -10 ° c, thereby implying an area with extremes of cold which prevent any growing of cultivated crops.
4.3.2 Precipitation and winds
Mapholaneng, just like the Mokhotlong District as a whole, lies in the rainshadow area of moist rain-bearing winds which cross the Drakensberg escarpment from Natal in South Africa (Figure 4 .3). Lying in the deep mountain valleys, Mapholaneng receives less than 600mm of rainfall per annum, while in the high altitude areas along the Eastern Drakensberg escarpment, places may receive from 1OOOmm to over 1500mm.
In this region there are times when weather conditions become very disastrous to both human, crop and animal life alike due to associated hail storms, thunder and rare torrential rain that cause river floods. For example, in 1976, torrential rains damaged maize and wheat crops, while between 1969 and 1970,severe drought griped the whole country (Perry, 1983). More than ten years ago in 1987, heavy snow fell during late October and killed large herds of cattle and flocks of peasant small stock in sheep and goats. However, even though the fall of snow is always associated with destructive impacts on social life, its annual melt is of significant contribution to the flow of Lesotho rivers such as Malima-matso ( black-water) Makhaleng and Orange Rivers. The fall of snow is also important as it facilitates ploughing activity and the modern development of eco-tourism for skiing and fishing. Nevertheless, weather hazards of hail storm, floods, severe cold, destructive westerly winds in early spring (August-October), frost and drought in general, have historically constituted a dominant threat to agriculture especially in the mountain areas ofMapholaneng (Ambrose, 1976).