Shopping in Lesotho
Shopping in Lesotho is a wonderful experience and the perfect way to get to know the true nature of the Lesotho culture as you mingle and converse with the locals. The many curios and shops in Lesotho lure travellers with an enticing selection of traditional local handicrafts and souvenirs, made with mastery by the local craftsmen.
Use this Lesotho Shopping Guide to help plan your exciting shopping adventure. We have detailed some of the best places to shop and the types of souvenirs in Lesotho you are likely to find. Revive your energy over lunch at one of the many snack stands, eateries and restaurants available around the shopping districts.
Around seven mohair weaving outfits are thriving in Lesotho presently. Six of these are run by Basotho women. This industry provides employment to hundreds of women. However, as not many efforts have been made to bring international visitors to Lesotho, sales of mohair weaving items are limited. This has prompted the weaving groups to explore the possibilities of exporting these items.
The high quality of these products has made outside investors consider exporting them. Lesotho mohair weavings are able to hold their own in the international market due to their superior quality.
Craft Centres of Lesotho
Teyateyaneng (T.Y.) is one the main craft centres of Lesotho. Four weaving businesses operate from here. Other important centres for crafts are Thaba Bosiu, Maseru, Leribe and a few other rural mountain villages. There are no avenues available for the craftsmen to display their work and tourists often do not get to see the products of local crafts.
Use this Lesotho Shopping Guide to help plan your exciting shopping adventure. We have detailed some of the best places to shop and the types of souvenirs in Lesotho you are likely to find. Revive your energy over lunch at one of the many snack stands, eateries and restaurants available around the shopping districts.
Lesotho Shopping Guide
Lesotho has been promoting a lot of craftwork to cater to tourist demands. These crafts, though sourced locally, are not necessarily traditional. Some items, especially mohair weaving products, are labelled traditional in order to make them more appealing to tourists. However, the fact that these crafts are recent innovations does not make them any less appealing.Mohair Weavings
Lesotho's mohair weavings are very well known. This craft was introduced in the 1960s by a few foreigners. The local goats are a good source of high quality mohair. Wanting to put this mohair to good use, foreigners involved in the weaving business trained several local women in the art of processing the mohair and then weaving it into eye-catching items. As mohair weaving items began selling well, weaving became one of the most prominent crafts of Lesotho.Around seven mohair weaving outfits are thriving in Lesotho presently. Six of these are run by Basotho women. This industry provides employment to hundreds of women. However, as not many efforts have been made to bring international visitors to Lesotho, sales of mohair weaving items are limited. This has prompted the weaving groups to explore the possibilities of exporting these items.
The high quality of these products has made outside investors consider exporting them. Lesotho mohair weavings are able to hold their own in the international market due to their superior quality.
Jewellery
Clay bead jewellery is a time-honoured tradition in Lesotho, although sterling silver jewellery and cow-horn jewellery are popularly used by artisans nowadays and are found in many shops in Lesotho. Silver earrings depicting traditional ‘Rondavels', earrings with mountains painted on them, cow-horn pendants, etc. can be seen in Maseru today. These products are common among the local women and have wide local appeal. The artisans are also supported by tourists.Bags
International garment factory scraps are now being used by young designers to design stylish, unique handbags. Manyo, an artist, has found a growing number of customers in the local Basotho women and a large clientele in the tourists in Lesotho. As the Basotho women are becoming more fashion conscious and now have a larger disposable income, they prove to be steady clients.Grass Products
The authentic traditional crafts of Lesotho are made using grass. Diverse varieties of grasses are available in the mountain highlands, providing artisans with abundant raw material. Basotho women in all regions of Lesotho are very talented at weaving hats, brooms, baskets, floor mats and beer strainers, known locally as Joala. Brooms and hats are made mainly for local use. These are bought by cost conscious Basotho as store-made hats and brooms are comparatively more expensive. Most of the Basotho homes use at least three brooms. Different parts of the house - house interior, the courtyard and the toilet - are swept with different brooms.Pottery
Lesotho has pottery but in limited quantity. Potters mainly inhabit the lowlands and their produce is hand-coiled and pit-fired. In earlier times, pottery products were used locally but with modernisation bringing cheaper and more durable mass produced dishes, the appeal of hand made pottery has reduced.Beadwork
Beadwork items are also made in Lesotho. Women painstakingly make clay beads and then make elaborate necklaces using them. Such necklaces are the perfect accessories for traditional Lesotho dresses. These are still worn on occasions like royal birthdays, school cultural functions and competitions involving song and dance. Now, even plastic and glass beads are used to make traditional jewellery.Molamus
Stick fighting is very popular among Basotho males. Killing time with stick fighting while grazing their herds is common among herd boys. The sticks used for this are called Molamus. These are available at most border posts in Lesotho. While the locals buy them for stick fighting, foreigners also find these sticks, with intricate wire adornments, very appealing.Clothing
Before European influences came to Lesotho, the local clothing was mostly made using animal hide and fur. Now, ‘traditional' clothing refers to Seshoeshoe (which is pronounced as se-shway-shway) fabric, the Basotho hat, which is conical in shape, and the Basotho blanket. Only the hat is local produce in this ‘traditional' costume. Basotho blankets and Seshoeshoe fabric are manufactured in the U.K. and sold in Southern Africa.Basotho Toys
Wire cars made using scrap wire and embellished with plastic bags and tin cans, and other homemade toys like airplanes, cyclists and dolls are the most common toys that the Basotho children are seen playing with.Litema
Lesotho's homes have round thatched roofs and are known as rondavels. These homes are decorated with etchings of complex designs on the exterior and interior surfaces. These etchings are known as Litema and are now seen only in rural homes. This is because the urban areas have a greater number of cement block homes, leaving no scope for Litema which holds a place of pride as Lesotho's only truly aesthetic art form.Craft Centres of Lesotho
Teyateyaneng (T.Y.) is one the main craft centres of Lesotho. Four weaving businesses operate from here. Other important centres for crafts are Thaba Bosiu, Maseru, Leribe and a few other rural mountain villages. There are no avenues available for the craftsmen to display their work and tourists often do not get to see the products of local crafts.
Shopping Places
Helang Basali Weavers ‘Craftsmanship and originality in weaving’
Established in the early eighties, these women took their fate into their own hands and formed the Helang Basali Weavers Co-operation by the late nineties. Owned, manned and produced by these Basotho ladies, this weaving workshop makes works of mohair art commissioned by your own original design. They also stock an interesting variety of pieces in their showroom. They have turned everyday Lesotho household names and designs, such as Maluti Matches, blue bird maize and mothers pride into interesting and unique woven bags and wall hangings. The ladies take pride in producing hand made mohair or wool scarfs to combat the Lesotho chill, fashionable enough to be worn in any major city or town to complete an outfit!
Their weavings can be washed, the colour will stay on the mothproofed, hand woven pure mohair. Their smallest pieces are 20x20cm and the largest can be as much as several meters high and wide.
Hours of Operation
08:00 - 17:00 Monday to Saturday
10:00 - 17:00 Sunday
Closed December 25 and January 01
How to get there
From Maseru travel around 35km towards Teyateyaneng. On your left you will see a colourful painted shop front for Weavers, pass this and a few metres further on you will find a dirt road to your left with a sign reading St Agens Mission & Helang Basali Weavers. This can be a rough road for low vehicles so feel free to leave your car at the bottom. Make your way to the big sandstone mission at the top of the road, take a left into a small dirt road and almost immediately a right (there is a small red and white sign with an arrow). Enter through the gate and there will always be a smiling and welcoming Basotho mme to be of assistance.
Their weavings can be washed, the colour will stay on the mothproofed, hand woven pure mohair. Their smallest pieces are 20x20cm and the largest can be as much as several meters high and wide.
Hours of Operation
08:00 - 17:00 Monday to Saturday
10:00 - 17:00 Sunday
Closed December 25 and January 01
How to get there
From Maseru travel around 35km towards Teyateyaneng. On your left you will see a colourful painted shop front for Weavers, pass this and a few metres further on you will find a dirt road to your left with a sign reading St Agens Mission & Helang Basali Weavers. This can be a rough road for low vehicles so feel free to leave your car at the bottom. Make your way to the big sandstone mission at the top of the road, take a left into a small dirt road and almost immediately a right (there is a small red and white sign with an arrow). Enter through the gate and there will always be a smiling and welcoming Basotho mme to be of assistance.
Teyateyaneng
Elelloang Basali Weavers
Elelloang Basali Weavers - TY
Local Basotho Woman working together to produce interesting and colorful mohair weavings. Their products include handbags and wall hangings in a range of sizes and colures.
They will welcome you every day of the week between 08h00 and 17h00.
Located on the A1 in Teyateyneng, Lesotho your shop is well marked and there warm welcome makes it worth a visit. They will also gladly show you around their workshop.
Elelloang Basali Weavers, PO Box 449, Teyateyaneng, Lesotho, South Africa
00266 58510992
elelloang@ilesotho.com
Majid Art Gallery
Madjid Art Gallery is situated inside the Tourist Information office of Lesotho, Kingsway Maseru. Home to all sorts of Local Products from t-shits, jewellery, paintings and Drawings. It is worth browsing through the gallery as you get your information for the rest of the trip from the tourist information office. Here you will find art by Masotho Artists that you can not find anywhere ells!
Stop by during office hours. Visit our photo page for a few more images from this Art Gallery! http://www.travel-lesotho.com/photo
Directions: As you drive in from the Maseru boarder post you will find signs for Kings Way and The Tourist information office. It is a big building with a thatched roof.
Tourist Information office, Kingsway, Maseru, Lesotho
00266 63098663
majidarts07@yahoo.com
