Quthing Dinosaur Footprints

At Quthing in southern Lesotho a slab of sandstone beside the road carries trackways of three-toed dinosaur prints, made around two hundred million years ago when this was a river floodplain and preserved when the mud hardened. Several trackways cross the surface. Lesotho's sandstones have produced a great many such sites and given their name to Lesothosaurus, a small dinosaur first described from the country. Quthing district holds several such sites within a short distance of each other, and this is the one that has been made accessible from the road.

What you actually see

• The trackways - three-toed prints crossing the sandstone surface.
• The preservation - mud hardened into rock with the impressions intact.
• The age - tracks laid down around two hundred million years ago.
• The Lesotho connection - the country that gave its name to Lesothosaurus.

When to go

September to April is the milder season. Low light shows the prints best. Winter is cold but access is unchanged.

Honest expectations

A shelter covers part of the surface but the site is otherwise basic. Interpretation is limited to what the guide provides. The prints are shallow and hard to see in flat light.

Nearby

Masitise is nearby, and Mount Moorosi is east.