Semonkong

This weekend, Hooter and I decided to trek to the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho to hangout with fellow intern Austin Haynes and his friend, Debz. We made the 3 hour drive to Maseru, the capital and Austin's residence, on Friday night and woke up early on Saturday morning to drive another 4 hours into the breathtaking mountains. Although the actual distance wasn't particularly far, we were traveling mostly on dirt roads, so it took awhile. But we didn't complain, as the slow drive allowed us to enjoy the gorgeous views along the way.

Our destination was Semonkong. It's known for hiking, pony-trekking, and what we ultimately came for: the longest commercial abseil in the world. Abseiling, which I'd never heard of before coming to South Africa, is bascially repelling down the face of a mountain. Despite being afraid of heights, I decided that doing the abseil would be a great idea and a fun way to liven up the weekend since I hadn't been out of Kimberley for 2 months.


This picture shows how vividly green it was there. I loved it since the Kimberley desert is rather lacking in the greenery department. It also shows the gorge where we abseiled.



Here we are walking to the start of the abseil. I'm simultaneously trying not to chicken out or pee my pants with fear.


Once I decided to do it, there was no turning back. What you cannot see is the deep-breathing I'm doing as I try not to look down or panic. I also refused to look at the camera and smile.


Where's Waldo? Can you see me? I'm on there (look for the green shirt to the left of the picture)! Hooter had trouble taking pictures since I accidentaly managed to set or at least near the record for fastest descent. The rope was pretty loose when I went down and I didn't know how to stop or slow down, so I pretty much clung to the rope with a death grip that burned my hands through the gloves. It wasn't until I reached the bottom that one of the guides told me what I should have done. Ha, nice timing. Still, I got some nice views and was less terrified than I thought I would be.


This one is a picture of Austin. I think it more accurately depicts the scale of what we were doing (the length of the entire abseil is 204 meters). He is the white speck to the left of the waterfall.


Hooter and I are happy to be on the ground again.


The crew - Austin, Debz, Hooter, and me - safely reunited.



Our humble abode for the night.


View from our humble abode.


Overall, a great weekend!