Maluti Mountains: High in the wintry mountains of Lesotho, Sharon Kadangwe from Malawi is learning to ski on a strip of snow that runs down a dry, brown slope at southern Africa’s only ski resort.
It’s “exciting and scary”, the 29-year-old said, climbing down from the ski lift. “It feels like the first time I learned how to ride a bike or swim… once you get into the rhythm of it, it becomes fun,” the arts manager said.
For a bubbly Ethiopian teacher who would only give her name as Helen, a trip to the Afriski resort in the tiny mountainous kingdom of Lesotho is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“I wanted to ski in Africa so bad because it’s my continent,” the 29-year-old said. “I am doing it once and it will be the last time in my life.”
Pop music blasts out as visitors take selfies or enjoy a beer in the sun. Some are here to ski or snowboard, others just want to experience snow for the first time.
As enthusiastic as the visitors are, high running costs threaten the unique African ski adventure, whic
h relies on artificial snow when snowfalls are patchy.
At 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) in the Maluti Mountains, Afriski — which opened in 2002 — has weathered a series of challenges, including the Covid shutdown, to keep running. The only other ski resort in the area, South Africa’s Tiffindell, closed this year.
South African Bianca Rentzke, 29, has been coming to Afriski since she was 11 years old.
“This is where I’ve learned how to ski. I’d love to do a trip overseas, but this is where I’ve grown up,” said the business owner. It’s been “amazing to see it develop”.
“We call this place magical… even though it’s a small hill we have, there’s something special about it,” said Shayne Murray, head of the ski school.
Surrounded by the brown mountains of a country that is in drought at the lower altitudes, the resort’s three small slopes are this year layered in artificial snow created with water pumped from eight nearby dams.