Mohale Dam

Built into the side of a mountain

Mohale Dam sits in a steep, narrow valley on the Senqunyane River, walled in on every side by basalt cliffs. The dam itself rises 145 metres — built not as a straight concrete slab but as a rock-fill embankment with a concrete face, the tallest of its kind anywhere in Africa. Standing on the crest, the valley below looks less like a construction site and more like something the mountains grew around.

From here, the water doesn't stay put. It runs through a tunnel bored 32 kilometres through the mountains to Katse Dam, then continues on toward Johannesburg and Pretoria — cities most visitors standing on this wall will never think to connect to the water beneath their feet. It's a strange thing to take in: one of the quietest, most remote valleys in Lesotho, feeding one of South Africa's busiest regions.