High in the wintry mountains of Lesotho, Sharon Kadangwe from Malawi learns to ski on a strip of snow that runs down a dry, brown slope at South Africa’s only ski resort.
It’s “exciting and scary,” said the 29-year-old, stepping off the ski lift. “It feels like the first time I learned how to ride a bike or swim … once you get into the rhythm of it, it becomes fun,” said the arts director.
For a bubbly Ethiopian teacher who would only give her name as Ellen, a trip to the Afriski resort in the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“I wanted so badly to ski in Africa because it’s my continent,” said the 29-year-old. “I do it once and it will be the last time in my life.”
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Pop music blasts as guests snap selfies or enjoy a beer in the sun. Some are here to ski or snowboard, others just want to experience snow for the first time.
As enthusiastic as visitors are, high operating costs threaten Africa’s unique skiing adventure, which relies on artificial snow when snowfall is patchy.
At 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) in the Maluti Mountains, Afriski — which opened in 2002 — has faced a number of challenges, including a Covid shutdown, to keep running. The only other ski resort in the area, South Africa’s Tiffindell, closed this year.
South African Bianca Rentzke, 29, has been coming to Afriski since she was 11 years old.
“This is where I learned to ski. I would love to take a trip abroad, but this is where I grew up,” said the business owner. It was “amazing to see it develop.”
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“We call this place magic … even though it’s a small hill that we have, there’s something special about it,” said Shayne Murray, head of the ski school.
Surrounded by the brown mountains of a drought-stricken country at lower altitudes, the resort’s three small slopes are this year covered in artificial snow created with water pumped from eight nearby dams.
High cost
Afriski employs about 200 people, mostly from the small town of Butha-Buthe, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) away, said general manager Puseletso Mahlakajoe.
Most of the instructors are from countries such as France, Germany and the United States, but the resort targets tourists from the region for the June-August ski season, he said.
“It’s cheaper to come here than to go to Europe,” he said. “We want these (African) kids to grow up loving skiing here so we stop hiring people from America as instructors.”
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A day pass costs 1,200 loti ($66, €60).
“We have to make sure that this business works on its own and sometimes that’s where the problem comes in,” Mahlakajoe said.
“Our electricity is very expensive, so there are times when we can’t pay a bill that month because we didn’t make enough.”
In the off-season, the resort hosts conferences and team-building camps to get by.
Highlighting the challenges it faces, Afriski has been unable to open for the 2023 ski season due to power shortages and an internal legal issue, chief executive Theo Ferreira told AFP.
While business is currently stable, if “we hit another Covid-type situation, that would be devastating.”
“It would be nice to get sponsors,” he said.
Source: AFP