The girls trip to Semonkong - "Amazing"

On the Tuesday morning, Kate, Jess and I set off for Semonkong which means “place of smoke”, named after of the smoke-like effect that the spray from the Maletsunyane Falls creates. This is the highest waterfall in Southern Africa and our aim for the trip. The 19 CDs of music mix that Jess and Kate had kindly made for the road trip kept us singing and entertained for the 4 hour journey into the centre of Lesotho. The tar roads gave out after 2 hours and the remainder of the journey was a bit like driving on the moon....but Jeepy could handle it.

On arriving at Semonkong lodge we were shown to our beautiful rondavel up on a hillside via a road that was by far the worst I’ve ever driven on. We were warned that the high-altitude walk up from the lodge to our room would take your puff away. The views were spectacular from our hillside and with pine forests and the Maletsunyane gorge in the distance. We could have been in the Alps or in the Canada Rockies. After a stroll before sunset we settled in the cosy bar for a meal and a game of pool with the locals (we lost).

The next morning we set off on our hike across the plateau to the Maletsunyane Falls. I was official map holder and reader but Jess soon took this role from me after I flatly refused to look at the map and took us immediately in the wrong direction where Kate nearly lost her shoe in the mud! The recent heavy rain had made the ground like a bog so there was lots of negotiating safe paths across the plains. Local villagers even offered their advice on where to cross the rivers...I think they took pity on us after seeing Kate almost covered head to toe in mud. As we rounded a corner we glimpsed a waterfall and all got excited. After much ooh-ing and aah-ring we walked a bit further only to discover that this was a tiny waterfall and the real deal was thundering down in a hidden corner of the gorge. What never ceases to amaze me is that at such spectacular sights there is not another soul around and this I think makes it more impressive.

The afternoon consisted of a pony trek in and around the village on Semonkong. It was great fun and slightly scary as our ponies would seem to be following instructions and then suddenly go off on a tangent so that our guide would have to chase and bring us back to order. After my pony nearly knocked down the big sign for ‘Semonkong’ we headed back to the safety of the lodge to get the functioning of our legs back over a cool beer by the river. It was fantastic few days in a remote spot of Lesotho with happy memories of farting donkeys, naughty ponies, amazing star-lit skies, falling asleep to a crackling fire and Kate probably becoming the most notorious mud-covered hiker to walk the plateau. Ready for our next adventure we headed back to Maseru with a slightly more muddy and creaky Jeepy than before.