Africa
Southern Africa

Lesotho

Lesotho is a small country entirely surrounded by . It's known as the "Kingdom in the Sky" because the entire country is at a high altitude.
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Photo: Kentstander, CC BY 2.5.

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is the capital of and largest city in Lesotho and is very close to the north western border with South Africa. Although there isn't a huge deal to see in , it is well worth stopping here upon entry into Lesotho to stock up before venturing further in.

is a town near Lesotho's north-western border. It is a craft centre, and has a good market for locally produced goods and crafts.

Photo: Eraserhead03, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a city in Lesotho, and the Camptown of the district of . It is located about 76 kilometres south of the country's capital, and has a population of approximately 61,000. The South African border town to is .

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Leribe and Thaba-Tseka.

Photo: Jeff.t.mcdonald, Public domain.
is in the north of Lesotho. Established in the 19th century by a British missionary, this town on the banks of the Hlotse river was one of the main centres in colonial days.

Photo: Wikimedia, Public domain.
is a constituency and the capital city or camptown of the in eastern Lesotho. It has a population of 15,248. was also the subject of the case studies in James Ferguson's book The Anti-Politics Machine, which identified the failures of outside-initiated development projects, which he calls the "development discourse fantasy".

Photo: Uspn, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a constituency, city and seat of in the mountainous northeastern part of Lesotho. It is the first major city with an airport along the road from South Africa across the , near the Maloti Mountains.

is the southernmost district of Lesotho. The biggest town in the district is called Moyeni. It is by far the most diverse district in Lesotho as Baphuthi, Zulus and Xhosas are found in large numbers and still speak their native languages as opposed to other districts where indigenous cultures have vanished.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.
is in Lesotho. Together with several national parks in it forms the UNESCO World Heritage site "Maloti Drakensberg Tranboundary World Heritage Site".

Photo: Paramente Phamotse, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Mohale's Hoek is the capital city of in Lesotho. It had a population of approximately 40,040 in 2016.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.
is located along ’s border with the mountain Kingdom of Lesotho.

Photo: Marduk, CC0.
is the mountain stronghold from where King Moshoeshoe I established and ruled over the Kingdom of Lesotho in the 19th century, fighting off wave after wave of attacks by white settlers and hostile African armies.

Photo: SMajara, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a tiny town in north western Lesotho, about 40 miles south of . Tim Couzens' novel Murder at tells of the 1920 poisoning of one of Lesotho's first missionaries.

Photo: Maliba Lodge, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Ts'ehlanyane National Park is a National Park in Lesotho. It is located in the in Leribe District, and is part of the larger Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area.

is a small town in central Lesotho. In Sesotho, literally means Place of Smoke, which is a reference to the huge 200m Maletsunyane Falls which is close to the town.

Lesotho

Latitude of center
-29.602° or 29° 36′ 7″ south
Longitude of center
28.229° or 28° 13′ 44″ east
Population
2,070,000
Area
30,355 km² (11,720 miles²)
Elevation
2,468 metres (8,097 feet)
Capital
Currency
Loti (LSL)
Phone code
.ls
Internet domain
266
Open­Street­Map ID
node 3491215388
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­country
Geo­Names ID
932692
Wiki­data ID
Q1013
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Lesotho from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Abkhazian to Zulu—“Lesotho” goes by many names.
  • Abkhazian: “Лесото Акралра”
  • Abkhazian: “Лесото”
  • Achinese: “Lesotho”
  • Afrikaans: “Lesotho”
  • Akan: “Lɛsutu”
  • Albanian: “Lesoto”
  • Amharic: “ሌሶቶ”
  • Amis: “Lesotho”
  • Angika: “लेसोथो”
  • Arabic: “ليسوتو”
  • Arabic: “مملكة ليسوتو”
  • Aragonese: “Lesoto”
  • Armenian: “Լեսոթո”
  • Armenian: “Լեսոտո”
  • Arpitan: “Lesothô”
  • Assamese: “লেছ’থ’”
  • Asturian: “Lesothu”
  • Atayal: “Lesotho”
  • Azerbaijani: “Lesoto”
  • Balinese: “Lesotho”
  • Bambara: “Lesoto”
  • Banjar: “Lesotho”
  • Bashkir: “Лесото”
  • Basque: “Lesotho”
  • Bavarian: “Lesotho”
  • Belarusian: “Лесота”
  • Bengali: “লেসেথো”
  • Bengali: “লেসোথো”
  • Betawi: “Lésoto”
  • Bhojpuri: “लिसोथो”
  • Bishnupriya: “লেসাথো”
  • Bislama: “Lesoto”
  • Bosnian: “Lesoto”
  • Breton: “Lesotho”
  • Bulgarian: “Лесото”
  • Burmese: “လီဆိုသို”
  • Burmese: “လီဆိုသိုနိုင်ငံ”
  • Catalan: “Lesotho”
  • Cebuano: “Lesotho”
  • Central Bikol: “Lesoto”
  • Central Kurdish: “لیسۆتۆ”
  • Chavacano: “Lesotho”
  • Chechen: “Лесото”
  • Chinese: “Lesotho”
  • Chinese: “莱索托 / 賴索托”
  • Chinese: “莱索托”
  • Chinese: “莱索托王国”
  • Chinese: “萊索托”
  • Chinese: “賴索托”
  • Chuvash: “Лесото”
  • Cornish: “Lesotho”
  • Corsican: “Lezotu”
  • Crimean Tatar: “Lesoto”
  • Croatian: “Lesoto”
  • Czech: “Lesotho”
  • Dagbani: “Lesotho”
  • Danish: “Lesotho”
  • Dhivehi: “ލެސޯތޯ”
  • Dimli (individual language): “Lesotho”
  • Dimli (individual language): “Lesoto”
  • Dotyali: “लेसोथो”
  • Dutch: “Koninkrijk Lesotho”
  • Dutch: “Lesotho”
  • Dutch: “LS”
  • Dutch: “LSO”
  • Dzongkha: “ལཻ་སོ་ཐོ”
  • Eastern Mari: “Лесото”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “ليسوتو”
  • Esperanto: “Lesoto”
  • Esperanto: “LS”
  • Esperanto: “Reĝlando Lesoto”
  • Estonian: “Lesotho Kuningriik”
  • Estonian: “Lesotho”
  • Ewe: “Kingdom of Lesotho”
  • Ewe: “LES”
  • Ewe: “Lesotho”
  • Ewe: “Lezoto”
  • Ewe: “Lɛsoto nutome”
  • Ewe: “ls”
  • Extremaduran: “Lesotu”
  • Farefare: “Lesotho”
  • Faroese: “Lesoto”
  • Fiji Hindi: “Lesotho”
  • Finnish: “Lesotho”
  • Finnish: “Lesothon kuningaskunta”
  • French: “le Royaume du Lesotho”
  • French: “Lesotho”
  • French: “LS”
  • Fulah: “Lesoto”
  • Gagauz: “Lesoto”
  • Galician: “Lesotho”
  • Galician: “Lesoto”
  • Galician: “Reino de Lesotho”
  • Ganda: “Lesoso”
  • Ganda: “Lesotho”
  • Georgian: “ლესოთო”
  • Georgian: “ლესოტო”
  • German: “Lesotho”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Kingdom of Lesotho”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “Lesotho”
  • Ghanaian Pidgin English: “The Mountain Kingdom”
  • Gilaki: “لسؤتؤ”
  • Greek: “Βασίλειο του Λεσότο”
  • Greek: “Λεσόθο”
  • Greek: “Λεσότο”
  • Guarani: “Lesóto”
  • Guianese Creole French: “Lésoto”
  • Gujarati: “લેસોથો”
  • Haitian: “Lezoto”
  • Hakka Chinese: “Lesotho”
  • Hausa: “Kingdom of Lesotho”
  • Hausa: “Lesotho”
  • Hausa: “Lesoto”
  • Hausa: “The Mountain Kingdom”
  • Hebrew: “לסוטו”
  • Hebrew: “לסותו”
  • Hindi: “लिसूतू”
  • Hindi: “लेसोथो”
  • Hungarian: “Lesotho”
  • Hungarian: “Lesothói Királyság”
  • Icelandic: “Lesótó”
  • Ido: “Lesotho”
  • Ido: “Lesoto”
  • Igbo: “Lesotho”
  • Iloko: “Lesotho”
  • Iloko: “Lesoto”
  • Inari Sami: “Lesotho kunâgâskodde”
  • Inari Sami: “Lesotho”
  • Indonesian: “Lesotho”
  • Interlingua: “Lesotho”
  • Interlingue: “Lesotho”
  • Irish: “Leosóta”
  • Italian: “Basotholand”
  • Italian: “Lesotho”
  • Italian: “Regno del Lesotho”
  • Jamaican Creole English: “Lesuoto”
  • Japanese: “レソト”
  • Japanese: “レソト王国”
  • Javanese: “Lésotho”
  • Kabiyè: “Lesoto”
  • Kabiyè: “Lezoto”
  • Kabyle: “Lesoto”
  • Kabyle: “Lesutu”
  • Kabyle: “Lisutu”
  • Kalaallisut: “Lesotho”
  • Kalmyk: “Лесотин Нутг”
  • Kannada: “ಲೆಸೊಥೊ”
  • Kara-Kalpak: “Lesoto”
  • Kashmiri: “لیسوتھو”
  • Kazakh: “Лесото”
  • Khmer: “ឡេសូតូ”
  • Kikuyu: “Lesotho”
  • Kikuyu: “Lesoto”
  • Kinyarwanda: “Lesoto”
  • Kirghiz: “Лесото”
  • Kölsch: “Lesotho”
  • Kongo: “Lesotho”
  • Korean: “레소토”
  • Kotava: “Lesotoa”
  • Kurdish: “Lesoto”
  • Kurdish: “لەسۆتۆ”
  • Ladin: “Lesotho”
  • Ladino: “Lesotho”
  • Lao: “ເລໂຊໂທ”
  • Latin: “Lesothum”
  • Latvian: “Lesoto”
  • Ligurian: “Lesòthò”
  • Limburgan: “Lesotho”
  • Lingala: “Lesoto”
  • Lingua Franca Nova: “Lesoto”
  • Literary Chinese: “賴索托”
  • Lithuanian: “Lesotas”
  • Livvi: “Lesoto”
  • Lombard: “Lesotho”
  • Low German: “Köäningryk Lesoto”
  • Low German: “Lesotho”
  • Low German: “Lesoto”
  • Lower Sorbian: “Lesotho”
  • Luba-Katanga: “Lesoto”
  • Luxembourgish: “Lesotho”
  • Macedonian: “Лесото”
  • Macedonian: “Лешото”
  • Malagasy: “Lesotho”
  • Malagasy: “Lesoto”
  • Malagasy: “Lesôtô”
  • Malay: “Lesotho”
  • Malayalam: “ലെസോതോ”
  • Malayalam: “ലെസോത്തോ”
  • Maltese: “il-Lesoto”
  • Maltese: “Lesoto”
  • Maltese: “Renju tal-Lesoto”
  • Manipuri: “ꯂꯦꯁꯣꯊꯣ”
  • Manx: “Lesoto”
  • Maori: “Teroto”
  • Marathi: “लेसोथो”
  • Mazanderani: “لسوتو”
  • Min Dong Chinese: “Lesotho”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Lesotho”
  • Minangkabau: “Lesotho”
  • Mingrelian: “ლესოთო”
  • Moksha: “Лэсота”
  • Moksha: “Лэсото”
  • Mongolian: “Лесото”
  • Moroccan Arabic: “ليسوطو”
  • Moroccan Arabic: “ليصوطو”
  • N'Ko: “ߟߌߛߕߏ߫”
  • Nauru: “Resoto”
  • Navajo: “Dziłkʼi Naakaii Łizhiní Bikéyah”
  • Navajo: “Sotho Dineʼé Bikéyah”
  • Nepali: “लेसोथो”
  • Newari: “लेसोथो”
  • North Ndebele: “Lesotho”
  • Northern Frisian: “Lesotho”
  • Northern Luri: “لسوتو”
  • Northern Sami: “Lesotho gonagasriika”
  • Northern Sami: “Lesotho”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Kongedømmet Lesotho”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Lesotho”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Lesotho”
  • Norwegian: “Lesotho”
  • Novial: “Lesutu”
  • Obolo: “Lesoto”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Lesotho”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Lesoto”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Lesotho”
  • Oriya: “ଲେସୋଥୋ”
  • Oromo: “Leesoottoo”
  • Ossetian: “Лесото”
  • Pali: “लेसोथो”
  • Pampanga: “Lesotho”
  • Panjabi: “ਲਿਸੋਥੋ”
  • Panjabi: “ਲੇਸੋਥੋ”
  • Papiamento: “Lesotho”
  • Pedi: “Lesotho”
  • Persian: “لسوتو”
  • Piemontese: “Lesotho”
  • Piemontese: “Lesòto”
  • Pitcairn-Norfolk: “Lesotho”
  • Polish: “Lesotho”
  • Portuguese: “Lesoto”
  • Pushto: “لسوتو”
  • Pushto: “لېسوتو”
  • Quechua: “Lesoto”
  • Quechua: “Suthusuyu”
  • Romanian: “Lesotho”
  • Romansh: “Lesotho”
  • Rundi: “Lesoto”
  • Russia Buriat: “Лесото”
  • Russian: “Королевство Лесото”
  • Russian: “Лесото”
  • Sakizaya: “Lesotho”
  • Samogitian: “Lesuots”
  • Sango: “Lesôtho”
  • Sanskrit: “लेसोथो”
  • Santali: “ᱞᱮᱥᱳᱛᱷᱳ”
  • Sardinian: “Lesotho”
  • Saterfriesisch: “Lesoto”
  • Scots: “Lesotho”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Leasoto”
  • Serbian: “Lesoto”
  • Serbian: “Лесото”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Lesoto”
  • Shan: “မိူင်းလႄႇသူဝ်းတူဝ်ႇ”
  • Shona: “Lesotho”
  • Shona: “Vusutu”
  • Sicilian: “Lesothu”
  • Silesian: “Lesotho”
  • Sindhi: “ليسوٿو”
  • Sinhala: “ලෙසතෝ”
  • Sinhala: “ලෙසොතෝව”
  • Sinhala: “ලෙසෝතෝ”
  • Skolt Sami: “Lesotho koonǥõskåʹdd”
  • Skolt Sami: “Lesotho”
  • Slovak: “Lesotho”
  • Slovak: “Lesothské kráľovstvo”
  • Slovenian: “Lesoto”
  • Somali: “Lesotho”
  • Somali: “Losooto”
  • South Azerbaijani: “لسوتو”
  • South Ndebele: “Lesotho”
  • Southern Sotho: “Lesotho”
  • Southern Sotho: “Mmuso wa Lesotho”
  • Spanish: “Lesotho”
  • Spanish: “Lesoto”
  • Spanish: “Reino de Lesotho”
  • Spanish: “Reino de Lesoto”
  • Standard Moroccan Tamazight: “ⵍⵉⵙⵓⵟⵓ”
  • Sundanese: “Lésotho”
  • Swahili: “Lesotho”
  • Swahili: “Lesoto”
  • Swati: “ÉLusûtfu”
  • Swati: “LeSotho”
  • Swedish: “Konungariket Lesotho”
  • Swedish: “Lesotho”
  • Swiss German: “Lesotho”
  • Tagalog: “Lesotho”
  • Tagalog: “Lesoto”
  • Tajik: “Лесото”
  • Talysh: “Lesoto”
  • Tamil: “லெசோதோ”
  • Tamil: “லெசோத்தோ”
  • Taroko: “Lesotho”
  • Tatar: “Лесото”
  • Telugu: “లెసోతో”
  • Thai: “ประเทศเลโซโท”
  • Thai: “เลโซโท”
  • Tibetan: “ལི་སོ་ཐོ།”
  • Tibetan: “ལེ་སོ་ཐོ།”
  • Tigrinya: “ሌሶቶ”
  • Tok Pisin: “Lesoto”
  • Tonga (Tonga Islands): “Lesoto”
  • Tosk Albanian: “Lesotho”
  • Tsonga: “Lesotho”
  • Tswana: “Lesotho”
  • Tumbuka: “Lesotho”
  • Tunisian Arabic: “ليسوتو”
  • Turkish: “Lesotho Krallığı”
  • Turkish: “Lesotho”
  • Turkish: “Lesoto”
  • Turkmen: “Lesoto”
  • Udmurt: “Лесото”
  • Uighur: “لېسوتو”
  • Ukrainian: “Королівство Лесото”
  • Ukrainian: “Лесото”
  • Upper Sorbian: “Lesotho”
  • Urdu: “لیسوتھو”
  • Uzbek: “Lesoto”
  • Venda: “Li-Sotho”
  • Venetian: “Lesotho”
  • Venetian: “Łesotho”
  • Venetian: “Lezoto”
  • Veps: “Lesoto”
  • Vietnamese: “Lê-xô-thô (Lesotho)”
  • Vietnamese: “Lê-xô-thô”
  • Vietnamese: “Lesotho”
  • Vietnamese: “Vương quốc Lesotho”
  • Vlax Romani: “Lesotho”
  • Volapük: “Sutuvän”
  • Võro: “Lesotho”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Lesoto”
  • Welsh: “Lesotho”
  • Western Frisian: “Lesotho”
  • Western Frisian: “Lesoto”
  • Western Panjabi: “لیسوتھو”
  • Wolof: “Lesoto”
  • Wu Chinese: “萊索托”
  • Xhosa: “ELuSuthu”
  • Yakut: “Лесото”
  • Yiddish: “לעסאטא”
  • Yiddish: “קעניגרייך פון לעסאטא”
  • Yoruba: “Lèsóthò”
  • Yoruba: “Lesoto”
  • Yue Chinese: “萊索托”
  • Zeeuws: “Lesotho”
  • Zhuang: “Lesotho”
  • Zulu: “iLesotho”
  • Zulu: “OSotho”
  • “Lesotho”
  • “Lesoto”
  • “Lesuots”
  • “ma Lesoto”
  • “ma Sutu”
  • “लिसोथो”

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About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Lesotho”. Photo: Kentstander, CC BY 2.5.