In May I took a pony trek through rural parts of the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho, in southern Africa. It was one of the best things I've ever done.
One of the biggest privileges it provided was being able to sit quietly and watch remote villagers go about their day as if a lone tourist wasn't in their midst. Here's what it looked like:
In charge of the entire village of Sekoting's population of toddlers (about 12) while parents were harvesting wheat, was this heroic grandmother. Traditional 'rondavel' homes are round because locals believe evil spirits can hide in corners.
Village women of Sekoting harvesting wheat for the community grain stores -- it was the southern hemisphere's fall when I visited in May.
Grinning and laughing a lot seemed to be a theme amongst the men and women as they harvested Sekoting's wheat fields together.
The ladies in a tiny village called Ribaneng had an almost dance-like technique for separating chaff from corn maize for the community's shared grain stores.
Ribaneng's women have eagle eyes when it comes to sorting out bad corn kernels; the good ones are stored over winter in a community grain hut.
Adorable kids played all afternoon while their parents worked on terraced hillside fields down below the village's huts.
You can see my entire Lesotho photo album here.
(Posted as part of #FriFotos, a weekly Twitter chat founded by @EpsteinTravels.)
Kim Mance is Galavanting’s editor-in-chief and host of travel and adventure webseries Galavanting.tv. She’s based in Brooklyn, NY and has blogged for places like Marie Claire, Travel + Leisure, Huffington Post, and Babble. Kim is also host of the popular TBEX conferences in North America & Europe.
She’s @kimmance on Twitter.