Just over 40km on from Moyeni, along a decent tar road with fine views of the mountains and glimpses of the mighty Senqu (Orange) River, the small town of MOUNT MOOROSI clings to the mountainside and provides inhabitants of various local villages with a minibus taxi stop and shopping. The largest institution is Mitchell's Trading Store, which serves as the town's main store, garage and fuel station. Ask here if you want to park your car in the compound, where it should be safe, before taking the ferry across the Senqu to Bethel.

 

Mount Moorosi is named after a chief, who moved to the region in the 1850s, living in the cliffs around the town. He was an ally of the San and had several San wives, but made an enemy of the British in the 1870s when they captured his son as a hostage and Moorosi promptly snatched him back. British troops retaliated by attacking his stronghold in 1879, but he held out for eight months, until finally captured when the soldiers used scaling ladders on the steep cliffs, and then cut off and publicly displayed Moorosi's severed head. Thaba Moorosi , where the main battle took place, is a kilometre or so further along the main road on the right, and you'll find if you climb it that some stone slabs still bear the inscriptions of the soldiers sent to catch the chief. It's quite a tricky climb, though, so be sure to let someone in Mount Moorosi know where you are going.