Lesotho Lesotho Lesotho (, ) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho () is an enclaved country within the border of South Africa. It is just over in size and has a population of around /1e6 round 0 million. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho was previously the British Crown Colony of Basutoland, but it declared independence from the United Kingdom on 4 October 1966. It is now a fully sovereign state that is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The name "Lesotho" roughly translates to "the land of the
Geology of Lesotho only large fault in the country, running northeast-southwest with a vertical displacement of 300 meters near Mafeteng, although there are other smaller faults. More than 50% of Lesotho's territory is underlain by fractured igneous rock aquifers, such as the low permeability basalt of the Lesotho Formation. Dolerite-dike related aquifers have high water productivity in fractures that formed in the surrounding rock due to the high temperature of the intrusion. The sandstones of the Clarens Formation, Elliot Formation and Burgersdorp Formation are small or low quality aquifers, but the Molteno Formation is regarded as the best aquifer in Lesotho with high