Am I there yet?

Because Swaziland is a predominately christian country we get some random religious holidays off one of which is Ascension Day. This year it fell on a Thursday making it a perfect opportunity for a four day weekend. We don't let opportunities like that pass us by here in Swaziland so a group of us hoped in my little rav 4 and headed off to Lesotho. I had been counting that I had been to Lesotho because I had a stamp in my passport, but really we had just crossed for a few hours. So this trip was to make it legitimate.

Jenny, Charlotte, Tao and I left Mbabane after work on Wednesday to get a jump start on the drive. When I called to book the accommodation in Standerton, South Africa for that night, the gentleman first said there was no room, but then said, "unless all you need is a bed." When I said that is all we needed, he said he had four singles for us for $20. Since we were getting in late, I called about an hour out to tell him we were still on our way. When we arrived, we walk into this nice house, pass a well stocked bar, a pool table, a dining room to our four rooms. We each had our own room with attached bathroom, dstv and he had turned the heater and heated mattress pads on when we called. After showing us the rooms, he showed me where to park the car, told us to bring in our bags and join them at the bar. So we did, we each had either a couple beers or glasses of wine and played a couple games of pool. He then gave us each a glass of amarula while we chatted with some German guys in town to work at the local power plant. Before heading off to bed, the guy told us that he was arranging breakfast for the Germans and we were welcome to join them. The next day when we left, we paid the $20 for the room. He did not charge us for any of the drinks or breakfast. I don't really want to know if this was "just a bed" what other services he normally offers. I will just be grateful for the amazing deal we stumbled into!


The next day, we hit the road fairly early since we knew we had a good drive ahead of us. We stopped about four hours into the drive in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. We had lunch and walked around a bit before jumping back in the car for our final destination, Semonkong. Semonkong is about 90 kilometers outside of Maseru, which sure did not seem too bad. It took three hours to drive there though because the roads are so bad. Not only are they windy mountainous roads, but they are horrible roads. Our lodger in Semonkong told us that about five years ago they were snowed in for a number of days and Semonkong went dry. The grater truck who was trying to come through to break up the ice went a little too deep. Now the roads are dirt roads with the occasional path of asphalt. On some of the hills, I could not even leave first gear I had to go so slowly. We all agreed it was the worst road any of us had ever driven. I was quite glad when we parked the car and did not move it for two days. I also was more than happy to have Tao drive out when we left.


We finally did arrive at the Semonkong lodge, which sat down in a valley. We were shown to our dormitory, which unfortunately was the furthest from the lodge. It really made you plan trips down to the main lodge carefully. Our dorm was a little stone building with bunk beds and fireplace.


After settling in we head down to the lodge for dinner because we are starving. Unfortunately, we were the last to arrive so we are the last orders to be taken. To pass the time we order a Maluti, the Lesothon beer, from the bar.
The next day, we learned that Maluti in the region has a fairly unique delivery system. This mule was not in any hurry as you can tell, but I am sure it still got there quicker than a truck over those roads would.

We finally get a table, but still there is more time to wait before ordering. I got so hungry at one point, even the candle began to look tasty. While waiting to order, we did have a performance of traditional Lesotho song and dance by some local orphans to pass some time. I really wanted one of these skirts, but did not see them anywhere. Finally it is our turn to order and we cannot believe our eyes. The choices are pork or duck with scrumptious descriptions of how they were prepared. We were not disappointed either. This was some of the best food I have had any where in Africa, which was more than a pleasant surprise in the middle of no where Lesotho.

You may be asking yourself, of all the places in Lesotho, why Semonkong? Well, it was chosen because it has the longest commercial abseil (repelling) in the world. It is in the Guinness Book of World Records at 204 meters. This was the reason we were there. So the next morning, after a breakfast on the porch with a friendly horse, we headed off to practice. We had three practice runs at of 25 meters (just over 8 stories). Going backwards over a cliff is not really my idea of fun, but I was in it for the experience and there was no way I was going to let other people do it without me! I was feeling confident by the end of the practice run, but unfortunately because the rope was wet from the day before our big drop was postponed until the following morning. That afternoon instead, we took a hike through the country side.

Lesotho is a tiny little country that is completely surrounded by South Africa. Sounds similar to Swaziland so I was surprised by how completely different the country is. First, rural Lesotho is much more isolating than rural Swaziland mainly because of the terrain I believe. It also seemed poorer than Swaziland. Another interesting thing, is that there seemed to be more older people. I am not sure if this is true or they just live harder lives so they look older. Because of the distance and mountains between everything, mules and horses are the major form of transport.
Walking through the country side, we encountered by herds of cows and flocks of sheep. Each herd or flock has a young shepherd boy who tends to the animals. You see these young men usually congregating in groups of two to three boys. Each with their balaclava and blanket. Because of the cold, in Lesotho blankets are an article of clothing.
At night, the shepherd boys sleep in these tiny stone dwellings. After walking through the countryside, we toured the booming metropolis of Semonkong. We walked through some of the residential areas where the women were doing laundry in the river. Then we hit downtown Semonkong. This is where you go if you want to catch a glimpse of tv, as these boys were waiting in line to do. Or you come to do your grocery shopping. Minus the satellite dish and truck, this is how I always pictured the wild west. This is also where you purchase your dead birds, which I can only presume are used for muti. Something you can not do downtown though is buy one of these trucks because they are all custom made by their owners.
Kids make these trucks out of wire and other trash in Swaziland as well. The long wire that is lying down at the back of the truck is used by the owner to propel the truck along. I have always been so impressed with the creativity and detail that these boys put into their trucks.

The next morning, we arose to cloud cover. We were nervous that we were not going to get to go on our abseil. It turned out though that the weather was actually perfect that day. The wind from the previous day had died down and it was fairly still. Not only do I think it would have been harder to go over the edge if it was really windy, but you also get more wet because the water from the waterfall blows at you. At the top, I began to have second, third, fourth, and fifth thoughts. Tao wanted to go first. As much abseiling and rock climbing as he has done, this was really nothing for him. I asked to go next. Mainly to get it out of the way. I was only going to get more nervous waiting at the top. So they harnessed me in, hooked me up to the rope and off I went. The worse part was going over the edge. As you back off the edge, you have to pull the rope up and walk backwards. It turns out that 204 meters of rope is quite heavy. It was slow going, but I finally made it over. I love this picture. I have such a cheesy grin on my face. I might have been trying too hard to look like I was having fun!
I told myself that I was not going to look down for a while. Fate was against me though. About four steps over the edge is a 20 meter cave. As soon as you are unable to touch the wall with your feet any more and are just hanging, you automatically swing around. This gave me no choice, but to look out onto the gorge. It was beautiful and I tried to make myself appreciate it. I finally made it past the cave and was able to put my feet on the wall again. This provides a false sense of security, which I welcomed. I slowly continued to let myself down. Occasionally stopping sometimes just to reassure myself I could stop, sometimes to admire the waterfall, and sometimes to look down to see how much further I had to go. If you look closely for a yellow rain jacket and orange helmet you can barely see me climbing down the cliff.
Each time I looked down, the bottom seemed just as far away as it had the last time until finally, I heard someone call out. I look down and there just a few meters from me was one of the crew ready to catch me. Oh, the relief. I had made it! Of course, without being there in person it is hard to comprehend how tall 204 meters (about 68 stories) is. Here are some pictures, to try to help. One of the crew members walking toward the waterfall to collect the next person down. About half of the waterfall is in this picture.

A picture of Charlotte taken from the bottom with Jenny's Canon on full zoom. Finally, the view of the falls as we hiked out.

As we hiked the 204 meters back out of the falls, our guide told us that tourists always take a picture at this rock. We were not really interested in the picture, but in the name of being good tourists obliged and took a picture. We were amused to find when reviewing the pictures that the entire point of taking this, which was to make it look like we were pushing this gigantic rock that was balanced precariously at the top of the gorge over the edge, was lost.

After returning to the lodge, we had our last of three scrumptious meals (chicken schwarma) before Tao drove us out of Semonkong and back to Maseru. We spent our last night experiencing ex-pat life in Lesotho, which unlike the countryside is remarkably similar to that in Swaziland.

While the car was sitting in Semonkong for two days a very sick gaggle of geese shat all over the poor Rav 4. In Africa, all gas stations are full service so your windows get washed, oil gets checked, etc. Just over the South African border we decided to stop for gas mainly so the windows would be cleaned and we would not have to look at bird poop the entire trip home. One attendant started to tackle the front windshield. After a few minutes, a colleague acknowledged the big job his comrade had in store so decided to chip in. He grabbed a squeegee and started at the back window. Fifteen minutes and about four squeegees later, the front windshield, back window, side windows, hood, doors and side mirrors were all bird poop free. I felt sorry for the next car to fill up because instead of getting a cleaner window they were going to get bird poop streaks from the dirty squeegees. Those men ate well that night with the tip they got!