The Kingdom of Lestho

We crossed the border from South Africa into Lesotho. Lesotho is a landlocked country surrounded only by South Africa. It has a population of 2 million people and is located in the Drakensberg mountain range. The lowest altitude of the county is 1500 above sea level.

While driving through Lesotho we noticed that there are good paved roads and bricked houses located very close to bumpy potholed roads and shack houses. Our guide Cardi explained that a lot of countries have donated money to Lesotho including through the missionaries. Lesotho is rich with mining however a lot of the mines are owned privately by Chinese or American companies. These companies have sponsored building roads in order for their trucks to reach the mines. Unfortunately the local people still have low salaries so most people are poor.

We stayed in Semonkong Lodge which is a lovely lodge in a river valley and is surrounded by beautiful mountains. We had an option of activities to do in the locality such as hiking, horse riding or abseiling. Michaele and myself chose to do the abseiling. This abseil is in the Guinness world record book as the highest commerically operated single drop abseil. We got trained on a 25m cliff beside the lodge before heading to the Maletsunyane Falls for the 204m abseil. Once set up they a line set up for both of us to go down together. I was set up first and went of the edge of the cliff. The worse part of the abseil was hanging over the edge of the cliff for a minute or two waiting for Michaele to come over the edge. Once we were both ready we descended together. At the start it was hard to get the rhythm and there was some free falling places that we both rotated away from the cliff but this offered us the most amazing view of the canyon around us and the waterfall beside us. Lower down the cliff we got splashed by the cold water from the waterfall and the rocks started to get slippery but we managed to safely reach the bottom. Both of us were buzzing at the bottom as it was a surreal experience and the location was beautiful. After a rest we hiked out of the canyon but stopped regularly to turn and look at the waterfall we had just descended. We returned back to the lodge they gave us a certificate of our achievement.

In the afternoon we went to a local house to meet a family who showed us the variety of blankets. The Lesotho people are named "blanket people" because they wear blankets to keep themselves warm. There is a different blanket made for people depending on their status and each blanket has a masculine and feminine side so a husband and wife can wear the same blanket. The designs if the blanket represent special cultural symbols.En savoir plus