Travel guides always note that Lesotho has the nickname 'mountain kingdom', and it is in Lesotho's mountains where the country shines. The 'lowlands', as they refer to the sliver of western foothills where the majority of the population live and where I too dwell, is indeed half-ugly and undeserving of recognition in a travel book. It's drier, it's littered, and it can be crowded with tin shacks. Up above, however, it's green, it's clean (cleaner anyway), and it's a fantastic place to hike for three days with two friends.
Chris, Texys and I walked trails from a village called Malealea to the small town of Semonkong. We played under waterfalls, narrowly avoided a cobra, narrowly avoided lightning bolts, sweated, ate prickly pears, drank from streams, and never ended up pitching a tent because there was always a hut available to sleep in.