World geography › Southern Africa › Lesotho
Lesotho: map and facts
Lesotho is in Southern Africa. It has about 2.36 million people (2025), the 142nd largest population. It covers 30,360 km², the 137th largest by area. That is about 78 people per km². Its highest point is Thabana Ntlenyana, at 3,482 m. The longest river on its map is the Orange, 2,200 km from source to mouth.
Facts
- Population: 2,363,325 (2025, World Bank)
- Area: 30,360 km² (2024, World Bank)
- Capital: Maseru
- Highest point: Thabana Ntlenyana, 3,482 m (Wikidata)
- Forest: 1.1% of the land (2024, World Bank)
Rivers
The longest rivers on the map of Lesotho, with the length of each whole river (Wikidata):
- Orange: 2,200 km
- Caledon: 480 km
Mountains and landscapes
Its highest peaks:
- Thabana Ntlenyana: 3,482 m (its highest point)
- Mafadi: 3,450 m
Mountain ranges: Drakensberg.
Land
Land cover seen from satellites (NASA MODIS, 2024): grassland 96.7%, farmland 1.4%, open shrubland 1.4%.
Landforms, worked out from the height of the land (USGS GMTED2010): mountains 52.1%, high mountains 27.5%, hills 18.2%, plateaus 2.2%.
Forests covered 1.1% of its land in 2024, the same as in 1990 (World Bank).
Neighbours
Lesotho shares land borders with South Africa on this map.
In the game you can zoom into its rivers, mountains, minerals, terrain and forests. Free, with no sign-up.
Sources
India’s boundaries are drawn according to India’s official position, simplified for small-scale maps (data: Natural Earth, India view). Each figure shows its year and source; some are rounded. Data release 2026.2.
- Natural Earth (naturalearthdata.com), public domain. Boundaries follow India's official position (Natural Earth's India point of view). Terms
- GMTED2010 courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey (Danielson and Gesch 2011, USGS Open-File Report 2011-1073). Terms
- Friedl, M., Sulla-Menashe, D. (2022). MODIS/Terra+Aqua Land Cover Type Yearly L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V061. NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC. doi:10.5067/MODIS/MCD12Q1.061. Terms
- The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL): UN Population Division, national statistical offices (2025 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Rounded by Make Me Smarter. Terms
- The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Surface area (AG.SRF.TOTL.K2): FAO (2024 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Terms
- The World Bank: World Development Indicators, Forest area (% of land area) (AG.LND.FRST.ZS): FAO, FAOSTAT (2024 data, retrieved 2026-10-17). CC BY 4.0. Rounded by Make Me Smarter. Terms
- Wikidata (CC0): names, capitals, peak heights and river lengths, checked by Make Me Smarter. Terms
- Landforms worked out by Make Me Smarter from GMTED2010.
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