Critically EndangeredWhite-backed Vulture
Gyps africanus
Africa
Lesotho is the only country in the world whose territory lies entirely above one thousand four hundred metres, which has earned it the nickname "Kingdom in the Sky". Its landscape is one of high plateaux, canyons and the summits of the Drakensberg, which on their eastern side fall away in basalt walls more than a thousand metres high. That isolation at altitude has created a very distinctive African alpine flora and fauna, with high-altitude grassland, sphagnum peat bogs that act as sponges and regulate the flow of the rivers that supply much of South Africa, and plants such as the spiral aloe, found only in the country. Sehlabathebe, in the southeast, protects a landscape of eroded sandstone, high-altitude pools and a mountain birdlife not found in the surrounding lowlands.
National animal: No official national animal; the Basotho pony is the emblematic animal of the country's culture
Lesotho's basalt cliffs hold a very large share of the bearded vulture population that survives in southern Africa, a community completely isolated from its relatives in Eurasia and the Horn of Africa by thousands of kilometres of savannah. Only a few hundred birds remain and their survival depends on feeding stations and on the fight against the poison used against livestock predators.
The country's high-altitude peat bogs regulate the water of the Orange basin and are damaged by overgrazing and erosion. The Maloti minnow, an endemic river fish, was believed extinct and was rediscovered in a few high-altitude streams.
Sehlabathebe year-round for bearded vultures and high-altitude birds. Sani Pass for raptors over the cliffs. The high grasslands between November and March for the alpine flowering.
Where else might I want to travel?
Same region: Southern Africa
Same region: Southern Africa
Same region: Southern Africa
Same region: Southern Africa
167 species found
Based on what we already know about Lesotho.
