AfriSki and the Maluti High Passes

Africa keeps a genuine ski season in the Maluti mountains: at about 3,200 metres below Mahlasela Pass, AfriSki grooms a snowmaking-backed slope from June to August, complete with lifts, lessons, and the novelty - irresistible to much of southern Africa - of goggles and gluhwein a day's drive from Johannesburg. The winter scene is half sport, half festival. The rest of the year the draw is the road itself: the A1 climbs the Moteng and Mahlasela passes through hairpins and herd-boy country to some of the highest tarmac on the continent, with basalt ridges, summer wildflowers and shepherds' stone motebo huts for scenery.

What you'll find

• The ski slope in season - Africa's improbable piste under Mahlasela.
• Mahlasela and Moteng passes - hairpin tarmac above 3,000 metres.
• Herd-boy country - blanket-wrapped shepherds and stone shelters on the heights.
• Summer wildflowers - the high meadows in the green months.

When to go

June to August for snow, cold and the winter party - book beds ahead, capacity is small. November to March turns the same country green and stormy, with the passes at their most photogenic and afternoon lightning to respect.

Good to know

Manage ski expectations: one main slope and a beginners' area, not an alpine circus - the charm is the absurdity and the altitude. Winter roads ice over; snow chains and daylight driving are wisdom, not caution. Altitude touches the unacclimatised - the pass tops approach 3,200 metres. Fuel up in Butha-Buthe; services above are thin.

Nearby

Oxbow's valley, the road on to Mokhotlong and the Sani Pass circuit.