South Africa and Lesotho Day 7: Waterfalls and Wild Weather, Oh My!

Our host informed us that we really must see Maletsunyane Falls, about 60 km / 35 miles south of our inn. We made the trip today and it was indeed a spectacular sight.

Today’s weather – during the drive, at least – was much nicer than yesterday’s, so we stopped at a few places we had skipped before.

east of Matsaba, Lesotho · by Lisa Rozmyn

There were no curios to be found.

east of Matsaba, Lesotho

If this next photo looks sort of familiar, it’s because it’s where we stopped yesterday, but yesterday it was during a heavy rainstorm.

east of Mantsa, Lesotho

east of Mantsa, Lesotho · by Lisa Rozmyn

southeast of Theetsoa, Lesotho

north of Semonkong, Lesotho

north of Semonkong, Lesotho

Here is the turnoff from the main (paved) road to the waterfalls. Notice how the sign says that “no cash payments” would be accepted.

Funny thing about that: Their card reader wasn’t working, so it turned out that only cash payments were accepted. (It’s good to be prepared for whatever around here …)

north of Semonkong, Lesotho

After a long and very bumpy gravel road (reminiscent of some we found in Puerto Rico many years ago), we did make it to the waterfalls. It’s hard to convey how large the falls are.

Maletsunyane Falls, south of Semonkong, Lesotho

In this photo, if there had been people here, you’d barely be able to see them.

Maletsunyane Falls, south of Semonkong, Lesotho

west of Semonkong, Lesotho · by Lisa Rozmyn

west of Semonkong, Lesotho · by Lisa Rozmyn

On our way out from the waterfalls, we happened upon this community gathering. No idea what it was about.

west of Semonkong, Lesotho · by Lisa Rozmyn

We drove through the nearby town of Semonkong. On the south side was another view of the same canyon where the waterfall was.

south of Semonkong, Lesotho

south of Semonkong, Lesotho

south of Semonkong, Lesotho · by Lisa Rozmyn

south of Semonkong, Lesotho

east of Mantsa, Lesotho · by Lisa Rozmyn

We returned back to Casa Tumi in mid-afternoon. A couple hours later we were preparing for dinner. There was a thunderstorm and some rain, nothing too unusual. And then, very suddenly, the wind kicked up. If I were to guess, I’d say something like 100 km/h / 60 mph. The door blew in, things went flying everywhere, and then as suddenly as it started, it ended maybe a minute or two later.

Remember the lawn chairs in front of our house from yesterday? Blown away. We never found them.

Maybe it was a tornado? Maybe it was a sudden wind squall? We’ll probably never know. The important thing is we’re all OK – and our host Mary’s friends in the community were all OK.

Once the winds subsided, I stepped outside to see how things were. Wet and colorful is the answer:

Casa Tumi, north of Makhalaneng, Lesotho

Casa Tumi, north of Makhalaneng, Lesotho