At the bottom of Sani Pass you are in South Africa, surrounded by forests and lower hills. As you drive up the road - which is mostly rough gravel and rock - the landscape changes completely. Waterfalls tumble beside the track, mist drifts across the cliffs, and the air gets cooler with every metre you climb. By the time you reach the top, you are inside Lesotho, standing on a high plateau with a completely different world stretching before you.
Because the road is so steep and rocky, only four-wheel-drive vehicles can make the journey. This means the pass feels wild and adventurous - you really feel like an explorer crossing into a mountain kingdom. At the top, there is a small pub said to be the highest pub in Africa, which hikers and drivers visit to warm up after the cold, windy climb.
Sani Pass is also an important route for local Basotho people. Some use horses or donkeys to cross when it is snowy. During winter, the pass sometimes closes for days when heavy snow and ice make it too dangerous. When conditions are right, the scenery of snow-covered peaks and frozen waterfalls looks more like a polar landscape than Africa.