The best way to identify Lesotho is via the absence of trees (besides the far north of the country), especially to tell it apart from Eswatini and South Africa. Lesotho is green and very undulating with hills and mountains throughout the country. Like Eswatini, there is rarely a flat section of ground in Lesotho. The most common road markings in Lesotho have yellow continuous edge lines and white centre lines. This road marking combination is also abundant in South Africa, Botswana and Eswatini. The second most common road marking in Lesotho features two continuous, white centre lines enclosing a white dashed line. These lines can also be seen in South Africa, Eswatini and Botswana. License plates in Lesotho may feature a slight blue blur thanks to the white plate having blue lettering that becomes blurred on Street View. If partially unblurred, you may see the Mokorotlo hat symbol on the left. Parts of Lesotho are quite mountainous yet the area still lacks trees. Parts of the country are fairly rocky. Most of Lesotho has short grass that is typically patchy, this can help distinguish the country from Eswatini which mainly has long grass. Many vehicles in Lesotho have white license plates with blue lettering. Like other African countries, Lesotho uses the triangular warning signs featuring a red outline and white filling. Lesotho tends to use the wooden utility poles that are fairly generic and common throughout southern Africa.

One of the best ways to identify the country are the characteristic ‘Lesotho mountains’. They are bare and treeless, often have tabletop-like shapes, and recognizable horizontal rocky ridgelines.

Depending on where you are in the country, the mountains can vary a bit in appearance. Especially inland areas towards the southeast, where they appear more like rolling green hills rather than isolated tabletop mountains. However, you will still often be able to see the horizontal rocky ridges.

Lesotho uses yellow outer lines and white inner lines on roads.

These are also found in the other three southern African countries.

Some roads have unique triple middle lines, consisting of two solid lines with a dashed line in between.

These are also found in the other three southern African countries, but nowhere else in the world.

Like the three other Southern African countries, Lesotho drives on the left hand side of the road.

In rural areas, housing often consists of traditional round huts with thatched roofs.

These are less common in the other three southern African countries, but can still be seen.

Agave plants are common throughout the countryside in Lesotho.

Grasslands in Lesotho primarily consist of short grass.

This is mostly useful to distinguish Lesotho from Eswatini, which famously has a lot of tall grass.

Many people in Lesotho wear traditional clothing. Most recognizably, a lot of people can be seen wearing a Basotho woollen blanket.

Lesotho is a very rural society. You will often see a lot of free-roaming livestock on Lesotho’s roads: most commonly cows, but also horses, donkeys, and other farm animals.