We left Semonkong Lodge at 9:30, it was a chilly 3 degrees. There are places you want to return to. This is one of those places, I would love to come in summer and swim in the river and possibly abseil down the Maletsunyane Falls, which holds the Guinness World Record for the longest single drop abseil of 204m.
Our road trip was 153 km with a border crossing at Qacha’s Nek. The tarred road we were going on was only completed a year ago and seriously confused the GPS (Doris), who kept telling us to do a U turn and take her ‘4 x 4 bad off road’ route that would take us 24 hours, instead of 3 hours.
Despite the tar, it was still fairly slow going but the sharp bends and steep gradients were more manageable as we descended to the border post.
Another reason for our slow pace was to take in the breathtakingly beautiful scenery. We stopped a few times to take pics.
One disappointment was that we couldn't find the vista of where the Senqu River makes a horseshoe bend. There are no signposts, so we followed the track to the Christ the King mission station and found the church with a picture of Jesus in all the colors of the rainbow, on the door. Unfortunately nobody spoke English and my sign language for viewsite and horseshoe river left them flummoxed.
It was a friendly and easy crossing back into SA. After 6 days days on tarred roads, thanks largely to the Chinese, we found ourselves on a bumpy gravel road. This 30km road took us into Matatiele, our stop for the night.
If it had not been for the tarring of all the roads and passes we travelled in Lesotho, the 6 days would probably have taken us around 6 weeks. There are still some remote places and tracks for the seriously mad 4 x 4 enthusiasts to tackle. One such route is Baboons Pass, near Semonkong, it takes 2 days to tackle 30km.
We are staying at Resthaven Guest House, it is comfortable and we were warmly welcomed by the owners. Shortly after our arrival a bitter wind blew up so we decided to take a drive around town, that took all of 10 minutes. I felt like a cup of coffee an was hoping to find a coffee shop, my choices were Wimpy or Steers.
Matatiele is a typical old small South African town. Sadly, a lot of these ‘one horse towns’ have have become ghost towns; due to national highways being built around them or mining or industry in the area closing down. Mataliele, however, on a cold Saturday afternoon was bustling and busy. Being the last town before the main route into southern Lesotho, people stock up with supplies.
Over a delicious home cooked meal, we chatted to Phillip, the owner, who is clearly an expert on where to go and what to do in Lesotho.
We are privileged to have have travelled the beautiful and friendly country of Lesotho at last.
Kyoto, Pula, Nala – Peace, Rain, Prosperity.
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