Do You Need to Go Through South Africa to Visit Lesotho?

If you’re travelling to Lesotho by land, then the answer to this question is a huge YES. You’d have to go through South Africa. I’ve personally visited Lesotho, and one of the interesting things about travelling there is its location. The entire country is surrounded by South Africa, so every land border crossing into Lesotho connects directly with South Africa. There isn’t another neighbouring country you can use to enter.

What this means is that if you’re planning a road trip to Lesotho, you need to think about the South African side of the journey too. You’ll leave South Africa at one of the border crossings, enter Lesotho, and when you leave Lesotho by road, you’ll find yourself back in South Africa again.

That said, flying is a different story all together. Lesotho has Moshoeshoe I International Airport near Maseru, so it is possible to fly into the country. But because of Lesotho’s geography, scheduled international air connections have traditionally been closely tied to South Africa as well.

When I visited, this unusual location was one of the things that made Lesotho particularly interesting to me. You’re travelling to a completely independent African country, yet everywhere around it is South Africa.