The lowland capital of the mountain kingdom
Maseru is the capital of Lesotho, a small kingdom entirely surrounded by South Africa. The city lies on the Caledon River at the edge of the lowlands, and its Basotho Hat craft shop, shaped like the traditional conical mokorotlo hat, sells woven goods. Just outside the city, Thaba Bosiu is the flat-topped mountain where King Moshoeshoe I founded the Basotho nation in the 1820s, and he is buried on its summit. Maseru is the starting point for trips into the Maluti Mountains.