Maletsunyane Falls, Semonkong

As this was a ‘big birthday’ year for me I wanted to do a number of things that were on my bucket list.  So first up was the abseil at Maletsunyane Falls in Lesotho.   This is apparently the highest commercial abseil in the world at 204 metres.We drove up over the long weekend and arrived at Semonkong after a long road trip, some 6 hours.  We enjoyed it though, especially the last couple of hours after passing through the Quachas Nek border post.  The scenery here is beautiful although a slow pace has to be maintained due to the numerous twists in the road.  We stayed at the dormitory style accommodation at Semonkong Lodge which was basic but comfortable, with a communal kitchen.The following day we went for our ‘training’ , a 25 metre abseil on cliffs near the lodge.  There were three of us that took the plunge, my 'partner in hiking crime’ Thora, and Farouk.  Jurgens from Sasolburg joined us and also took some drone footage.  We passed our test and were given the green light for the big one the following morning.  That afternoon we took a walk out to the waterfall which we viewed from across the gorge.  We did think at the time that perhaps this was not such a good idea as it looked pretty formidable - a massive drop and we wondered whether we would sleep that night….Abseil day dawned and we were taken out to the waterfall pretty early.  Temperatures were at minus 5 degrees and the waterfall was heavily iced up on its right hand side so we dressed accordingly.  We would be abseiling in the shade and with a good chance of getting wet towards the bottom.When the time came I was surprisingly calm and focused and it all went well.  I must add that it is very safe and as they use a full body harness, and a safety rope as well, you are in very good hands and its just a matter of getting your head around the 200 metre drop below you.  It was an amazing experience looking down at the ice in the pool below and the massive gorge beyond .  The walk out was pretty strenuous as its a steep ascent via a eroded path to the top.  All in all a memorable experience and highly recommended!




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