LESOTHO - Kingdom of Lesotho / 'Muso oa Lesotho

Lesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho), is an enclaved country within the border of South Africa. Along with the Vatican City and San Marino, it is one of only three independent states completely surrounded by the territory of another country, and the only one outside the Italian peninsula or that is not a microstate. Lesotho is just over 30,000 km² and has a population of around 2 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 and is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the African Union, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The name Lesotho roughly translates to "the land of the people who speak Sesotho".

There are known to be 339 bird species in Lesotho, including 10 globally threatened species and 2 introduced species, 17 reptile species, including geckos, snakes and lizards, and 60 mammal species endemic to Lesotho, including the endangered white-tailed rat. Lesotho's flora is Alpine, due to the high and mountainous terrain. The Katse Botanical Gardens houses a collection of medicinal plants and has a large seed bank of plants from the Malibamat'so River area.

Stamps of the Cape of Good Hope were used in Basutoland in 1880, then those of South Africa in 1910. The first stamps of Basutoland were definitive stamps issued in 1933 and were a set of ten stamps all of the same design depicting King George V and the Nile Crocodile against a background of mountains. Basutoland participated in the British Commonwealth 1935 Silver Jubilee omnibus issues and the 1937 Coronation omnibus. In 1938 a new definitive series was issued based entirely on the first series of King George V but with the head of George VI instead. This series had eleven stamps. 

In 1945, Victory stamps of South Africa were overprinted Basutoland. The first stamp of the new reign was issued on 3 June 1953 and was part of the Coronation omnibus series issued throughout the British Commonwealth. The 1954 set was reissued with the new currency inscribed from 1961 to 1963. After that, all the commemorative sets except for one (New Constitution) were omnibus issues. The New Constitution set was inscribed "LESOTHO BASUTOLAND" instead of just "BASUTOLAND".

The first stamps of independent Lesotho were issued on 4 October 1966. On 1 November of that year, the 1961-1963 set of Basutoland was overprinted "LESOTHO". In 1979, the currency was changed from South African rand to lisente (s) and maloti (m). In 1980-1981 the then current 1976-1978 definitives were overprinted with the new currency.

These two  registered airmail covers sent by  Julius from Maseru, the capital city of Lesotho. Lesotho stamps are very popular because of its large variety of flora and fauna issues. The covers posted on Nov 25, 2015 and I received on December 22,2015.