The top of Sani Pass was white as far as the eye could see yesterday.
Sani Pass, KwaZulu-Natal’s entry point to its mountain kingdom neighbour, was open to traffic as far as people at the bottom were concerned.
However, Polo Tsoele, reservation manager at the Sani Mountain Lodge, which looks down on the pass, said not a single vehicle was seen, or heard grinding its way up the hairpin bends.
“The last vehicles on the way up came yesterday (Thursday) afternoon.”
She said it was “very, very, cold” but the local village was prepared for such weather and stocked up with necessities such as paraffin.
She believed there was no traffic from Mokhotlong, the closest town inside Lesotho, 54km away.
Russel Souchet, owner of Sani Lodge Backpackers, at the bottom of the pass in the Underberg area, said snow that fell overnight on Thursday was melting yesterday but more was expected last night.
“(On Saturday), it may well look different.“
In nearby Underberg, snow was visible on the higher reaches of the southern Drakensberg mountains, “down to the sandstone layer”, according to one resident.
Locals warned of fake snow photographs doing the rounds on social media.
The Independent on Saturday