The Walk in the Sky

15^th September-19^th September – Days 350-354 – Semonkong, Lesotho

Semonkong isn't really a one horse town in a literal sense – I don't think any town in Lesotho is. It's a town where the local shebeen has no car park but a place to park your horses. There's a big horse station on the main “square” (which is surrounded by two dusty Chinese-run supermarkets, various patches of grass and a South African “Pep” store which looks bizarrely out of place). Metaphorically though, it is the perfect example of a one horse town. The road from Maseru ends abruptly here, ensuring that anyone who comes this far faces a bumpy off-road bus ride all the way back to the capital, and there are just a few houses dotted around. Tarmac is, of course, a distant dream and local people mill around wrapped in their Basotho blankets and all toting rubber boots. It's a strange yet beautiful, enchanting place. Semonkong lodge, which seemed to be the only place in town to stay, is slightly out of town and set on a hillside, at one with nature as these places should be. There are small cottages dotted around and not a sound for miles around. The fact that our cottage was right at the top of the hill was not helped by the thinning air at this altitude and we were always out of breath when we got to the top but it was well worth it for the views across the valley.

M navigates the perilous slope to the cottage in the sky

Downtown Semonkong

Even more downtown Semonkong!

We'd signed up for a wander out of town towards the Maletsunyane Falls, which go nearly 200m into a gorge. In the spirit of Southern Africa it's been exploited by a company offering the longest commercial abseiling drop in the world but it's pretty discreet. We wander through fields, our guide chatting on passers-by on horses. I smile as I tell him that, back home, horses are for the rich. “Ah, but in Lesotho” he tells me, “Cars are for the rich. You have your cars, we have our horses”. As we get to the Maletsunyane gorge, he takes us to a small path which weaves its way almost vertically all the way to the bottom. It's a strenuous descent during which both of us took spectacular tumbles – so strenuous in fact that it wasn't until we got to the bottom that I realised we'd have to climb all the way back up. Hell. We had a bite to eat and a snack (and the guide disappeared for the third time, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the fact that we'd agreed to pay him by the hour) and met up with two horse riders living in South Africa who we'd seen at the lodge, Hunter and Jana. We had a chat, agreed to meet them at the shebeen later on, and hit the slopes up again. It's hard really to encapsulate the beauty and wilderness of the area in words so I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Basotho horses on the way to the falls...

The Maletsunyane Gorge

Maletsunyane Falls from the top of the gorge

Our guide tries to work out how to squeeze an extra hour from the walk

Following the river back to Semonkong

There's not much to do in Semonkong – wandering around town and having chats in the shebeen were about it, but it's a great place to take a breather. Unfortunately though, we were out of cash and the phone lines into town weren't good enough to take Visa Electron cards and so we had to cut the stay short. Hunter and Jana, in good South African style, offered to pile us into the back of their pickup for the long ride back to Maseru. We exchanged numbers, agreed to meet up in Johannesburg and waved them off, once again reflecting on how friendly people are around here.

Hunter, M, Jana, Chris in the happenin' Semonkong shebeen