Contents
Page
Where is Lesotho?
2
Travelling to Lesotho
4
Travelling in Lesotho
5
What kind of place is Lesotho?
6
The weather in Lesotho
9
Homes in Lesotho
11
School in Lesotho
12
Work in Lesotho
14
Clothes in Lesotho
16
Wales and Lesotho
17
Improvements in Lesotho
18
Holidays in Lesotho
19
Vocabulary
1
Page 2
Where is Lesotho?
Wales
Lesotho
Lesotho is a country. Lesotho is in Africa.
There is no sea around Lesotho, only land.
Lesotho is in the middle of South Africa.
Page 3
Lesotho is a small country, but it is bigger than Wales.
Lesotho is the same size as Belgium.
2.3 million people live in Lesotho today.
3 million people live in Wales today.
Lesotho’s new flag
Why blue, white and green?
blue = rain
white = peace
green = improvements in Lesotho.
The hat shows the people of Lesotho.
Page 4
Travelling to Lesotho
By aeroplane
People fly in a big aeroplane to Johannesburg in Africa.
Then they fly in a small aeroplane to Maseru in Lesotho.
Johannesburg airport
Maseru airport
Sometimes, people travel by bus from South Africa to Lesotho.
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Page 5
Travelling in Lesotho
There is a tarmac road from Maseru to Semonkong.
Not every road has tarmac, only hard, red soil.
People must travel in a 4 x 4 car in the mountains.
Many people in Lesotho travel on horseback and on mules.
They walk a lot too.
Page 6
What kind of place is Lesotho?
Key:
Orange box = low land.
Brown box = very high land.
The highlands are in the east and south.
The lowlands are in the north and west.
Page 7
The highest mountain in Lesotho is higher than the highest mountain in Wales.
Thabana-Ntlenyana mountain (3482m)
Snowdon 1085m.
Most of the land in Lesotho is higher than 1000m.
The other name for Lesotho is ‘Kingdom in the Sky’!
Page 8
Maseru
Maseru is the capital city of Lesotho.
Maseru is in the north (north-west).
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Qacha’s Nek
Qacha’s Nek is a town.
Qacha’s Nek is in the east.
Morija
Morija is a large village.
The village is in the west (south-west).
Page 9
The weather in Lesotho
The weather is very hot in Lesotho in the summer.
The weather is very cold in Lesotho in the winter.
There is a lot of snow in the winter.
Season
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Months
August - October
November - January
February - April
May - July
It is winter in Lesotho when it’s summer in Wales!
It is dry and cold in Lesotho in the winter.
It is wet and hot in Lesotho in the summer.
Rainfall in mm
JFMAMJJASOND
Months of the year
Rainfall
More than 1200mm
800mm – 1200mm
Less than 800mm
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Page 10
Maseru (Lesotho)
January
Temperature 30˚C
Rain
27 mm
July
Temperature 9˚C
Rain
12 mm
Cardiff (Wales)
January
Temperature 7˚C
Rain
120 mm
July
Temperature 17˚C
Rain
40 mm
Temperature in ˚C
JFMAMJJASOND
Months of the year
Landscape
Higher than 3000m
2400m – 3000m
1500m – 2400m
It rains more in Qacha’s Nek than in Maseru.
Why?
Qacha’s Nek is in the east where the land is very high.
Maseru is in the west where the land is very low.
Page 11
Homes in Lesotho
Some people in Lesotho live in round houses. Others live in square houses.
The round house is called rondhabole.
The rondhabole has a thatched roof and stone walls.
These houses are found in villages.
The square house is called heisi.
The heisi has concrete walls and a zinc roof.
These houses are found in towns.
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There is no electricity or water in the house.
There is no toilet in the house.
There is not much furniture in the house.
They fetch water from the well or the tap in the village.
Page 12
School in Lesotho
Every child goes to primary school in Lesotho.
Not every child goes to high school in Lesotho.
The schools in Lesotho are very full.
There are a lot of children in one class. Sometimes, there are 100 children in one
class!
These children are learning mathematics.
The children have the following lessons:
Sesotho
English
mathematics
science
social Studies
religious Studies
cookery
sewing
gardening
art
Page 13
Play time at school
Sometimes, people from Wales go to help teachers in Lesotho.
Joyce Howells, a teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Penweddig in Aberystwyth, went to
Lesotho to help teachers.
Children in Lesotho make toys!
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Page 14
Work in Lesotho
Pie chart:
people living in the country
people living in towns.
Many people in Lesotho are farmers.
The women of Lesotho work hard.
They work hard in the fields.
They also look after the children and the house.
Page 15
The young boys look after the animals.
Sometimes, they stay in the mountains for months with the animals.
Where do the men work?
The men work in diamond mines in South Africa.
Page 16
Clothes in Lesotho
The people of Lesotho wear very special clothes.
They wear very colourful blankets.
The blankets are very warm in the cold weather.
The boys wear blankets when they look after the animals in the mountains.
basotho hat
Lesotho blanket
The people of Lesotho wear modern clothes too.
Page 17
Wales and Lesotho
The people of Lesotho are called Basothos.
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The people of Lesotho speak two languages, Sesotho and English.
We speak two languages in Wales too!
Dolen Cymru
Wales is a friend of Lesotho.
People from Lesotho come to Wales and people from Wales go to Lesotho.
These children are learning about Wales!
Page 18
Improvements in Lesotho
Rain is very important in Lesotho.
Why?
They sell water to South Africa.
They get money for the water.
They spend the money on improving Lesotho.
How?
They build new houses and improve the roads.
More houses have electricity and water.
They also build new schools.
Page 19
Holidays in Lesotho
Come on holiday to Lesotho!
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