It was a beautiful hike through fields and small villages to reach the falls. |
Earlier this month, I joined a friend and his father on
their trip to the village of Semonkong. Only a few years ago, the journey alone
would have been absurdly long. Today, however, there is a paved road all the
way into the large village and it takes just over two hours to reach the town
from Maseru.
Semonkong is home to the Semonkong Lodge and two Peace Corps
Volunteers. While Nick and his dad stayed at the really welcoming lodge, I
enjoyed the hospitality and camaraderie of my fellow PCVs. I also visited the
lodge enough to recognize it as a wonderful spot.
Maletsunyane Falls |
Only five kilometers from town is Southern Africa’s longest
single drop waterfall: Maletsunyane Falls. The waterfall plummets an
astonishing 186m (that’s 610 feet)! Semonkong Lodge capitalizes on this beautiful
waterfall; offering a variety of hikes to the falls and even the world’s
longest abseil or rappelling alongside the falls.
With only one full day in town, we opted to hike to the
falls, but not to abseil or hike down to look up at the falls-both adventures
being far more time consuming than relaxing. (And to be honest, despite all my
work on ropes courses and zip lines, I do not actually enjoy rappelling so
spending half my month’s stipend to do something I do not like seemed foolish.)
Given the weather, this turned out to be a brilliant decision, as even
approaching the cliffs surrounding the waterfall’s gorge were adventurous
thanks to the high winds that were pushing us around. As we approached the
lodge following our three-hour hike, fat raindrops began to fall. We made it
into the lodge just before an intense downpour began.
Nick and me at the falls and the wind trying to blow my hair and shirt away! |
The lodge offers some other popular activities for those wanting
unique travel experiences. In addition to the typical Lesotho offerings of
hiking, good food, and pony trekking, they offer a donkey pub crawl! Where else
can you go on a pub crawl where riding a donkey? We sedately chose to enjoy a
few beers at the lodge’s bar, which was probably a smart decision with the
deluge outside.
No comments:
Post a Comment