Лесотоның ең биік тауы – Табана Нтленяна

Highest mountain in Lesotho

Thabana Ntlenyana (tahBAHnə inTLAYnyənə) is the highest mountain in southern Africa. It stands tall within the lofty Maloti Mountains that crest Lesotho, a small landlocked nation surrounded by South Africa. The peak's name means "beautiful little mountain" in the Sesotho language, from thaba (mountain), the diminutive na, and ntlenyana (beautiful).

Thabana Ntlenyana is situated on the Mohlesi ridge, north of the treacherous Sani Pass. Thabana Ntlenyana, like the broader highlands around it, is made of amygdaloidal flood basalt that formed during the Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic epochs. Nearby the mountain are the headwaters of the Orange River, which runs approximately to the west before draining into the Atlantic Ocean. Together with its main tributary, the Vaal River, the Orange River's catchment spans around of land across Southern Africa.

The high elevation treeless areas in the Drakensberg like Thabana Ntlenyana are categorized by the World Wide Fund for Nature as part of the Drakensberg alti montane grasslands and woodlands ecoregion. This ecoregion is characterized by high elevation and high rainfall, but also by cooler temperatures than more equatorial montane areas. Rainfall comes in summer, often exceeding per year. Snowfall can occur in winter. Temperature varies from 8 °C (18 °F) to 32 °C (90 °F), with an average of 13 °C (55 °F). Vegetation in the Maloti is known to vary with the surface geomorphic features beneath it, such as the soil's grain size, carbon content, and depth. Flora communities are composed largely of tussock grasses and ericoid shrubs. Some of the most prevalent grass, sedge, and ericoid species are Merxmuellera disticha, M. drakensbergensis, Poa banana, Carex clavata, and Scirpus falsus.

The peak is often climbed from Sani Top Chalet or from Vergelegen Nature Reserve. The first ascent of the mountain was probably in the deep past, as shepherds are known to visit the summit regularly and likely have done so for thousands of years. The first recorded ascent by Western tradition mountaineers was achieved in March 1951 by a South African English team of leader Desmond Watkins, surveyors Barry Anderson and Roy Goodwin, mountaineer C. W. Jorgensen, and least three other assistants, described by Jorgensen only as "cooks, bottlewashers and scarecrows."