166 LESOTHO. Like Running a Marathon in Flip-Flops The Radio Vagabond

Greetings from KwaZulu-Natal!
Welcome back to the next instalment of my enchanting road trip across South Africa. This episode is part 5 of my journey, so if you have missed the previous 4 episodes then I suggest you go back and catch up, otherwise you will never know just how I ended up here.
I left Durban in the rear-view mirror of my hired Toyota Corolla en route to Lesotho - a tiny country completely surrounded by South Africa. It’s a country within a country - like a Russian doll of autonomous land, or as I like to say, it is a ‘country-ception’. 
It is a small country, around 30,000km² (11,500 square miles), and is about the size of Belgium. It is perched high up in the mountains roughly 3.4km above sea level and was granted independence from the United Kingdom in 1966.
Having the goal to visit every UN Nation in the world, obviously, Lesotho was on my list as one of the 193. It is a fairly short drive up a mountain road to get to Lesotho from Durban, so I decided to book a place to stay for one night and then head back down the same way the next day. I love driving on beautiful mountain roads and taking in the scenery, so I was really excited to get to visit this small African kingdom.
But the day turned out to be much different from what I expected…
YOU SHALL NOT (SANI) PASS
Let me set the scene for you: I’m driving on a mountain pass called Sani Pass that cuts through the peaks of the famous Drakensberg Mountains between South Africa and Lesotho.
The route up Sani Pass starts at 1544m (5,065ft) above sea level, and climbs to an altitude of 2876m (9,435ft). The views up here are out of this world. And, well, so is the road I’m driving on. It feels like I’m driving on Mars. The road is a very steep gravel road, which can be difficult to drive in bad weather and near impossible in the winter where it is sometimes covered with snow and ice.
 
Sani Pass, the highest pass in South Africa, is known for being a death-defying experience. The Smithsonian Channel calls it one of the most dangerous mountain-passes in the world - and that’s if you have a 4x4 vehicle like a Jeep or Land Rover. Your favourite Danish vagabond was driving a Toyota Corolla, which is like running a marathon in flip-flops. Little did I know, that it is actually against the law to drive this pass with anything other than a 4x4. I guess that makes me an outlaw...
After an intense drive with my Toyota’s tiny engine heaving all the way up like an asthmatic at a harmonica convention, I eventually reached the border at 1 pm. I actually passed the border illegally. But my time as an outlaw was up...
To cross the border, you have to drive through a small river. In a 4x4 this would be an easy task, but my Toyota was having none of it. As I was about to attempt the river crossing, one of the border patrol officers came over and politely enquired what I thought I was doing.
“Your tiny car won’t make it much further,” he said. “The way from here is much more arduous than where you have come from”.
I’m sure he was actually trying to hold his laughter in and probably wanted to say something like “Dude, what the f**k are you thinking?” But he was very polite and didn’t make fun of me.
 
STRANDED AT THE LESOTHO BORDER
There were mountains on my left side and a steep drop on the right side, so turning the car was not an option. So, he got in the car with me and I started backing down - very slowly - down to the border office where I would assess the situation and find out exactly how I would make it to my eco-lodge with a stunning view in Lesotho.
Inside the office, he started speaking to his colleagues in what I assume was probably Zulu - and they were all keeping a straight face. Basically, they were telling me that the prospects of me reaching my accommodation were remote.
But I’m a collector of good stories, so whenever something bad happens I always try to stay positive and remind myself that I’m in t