Semonkong

The mountain settlement in Lesotho where Harry spends his 48 hours, about two hours’ drive from the airport with Kieran, Luke Damant and their guide Kay.

His first impression, arriving at sunset, is mountains as far as he can see. He says he is genuinely surprised no tourists come.

Staying here

Semonkong Lodge, credited in the video. Rustic and in the mountains: a fireplace, bunk beds, a wardrobe, a good shower, and nothing more. Harry’s framing is that this is rural life here and he’s ready for it — and that the short straw is the top bunk, from which his pillow kept falling onto Kieran.

Donkey racing

The thing worth knowing about it: it is not a tourist activity. Locals race in the winters, and Harry’s group are simply joining in.

• The donkeys have no names. Harry calls his Tesco.
• Bets are guesswork — even his guide has no idea which animal or which rider is any good.
• The whole valley watches. Shouting comes from across the hills, and he realises the audience is everyone within sight.
• Harry refuses to hit his donkey, says so on camera before the race, and accepts that this may cost him the race.
• He falls off, remounts, and loses. A local boy takes it at the last moment.
• There is a losers’ heat, which he considers the real competition.

The donkey pub crawl

A local tradition rather than an invention: with no transport other than donkeys and horses, you ride from village to village and drink in each one, partly to keep warm.

• Cans while riding, not bottles — the one rule he is given.
• Maluti, the local beer, at every stop.
• It is almost entirely men. Women, he is told, normally drink at weekends.
• Harry’s comparison is Red Dead Redemption, and his verdict is that it is a proper lads’ activity he never expected to do.

Between pubs there’s a market where horse parking is free, which he can’t get over.

The abseil

The reason to come, and the thing the video is built around: the world’s highest single-drop commercial abseil, at 204 metres, down the waterfall here.

Training, the day before:

• A 25-metre practice drop — a fraction of the real one.
• Three successful descents to qualify.
• Each one gets harder and his confidence goes up anyway. Kieran ends up saying it’s easy by the end and that he’s definitely doing it.
• Luke doesn’t qualify, having caught his hands in the equipment, and doesn’t do the main drop.

The real thing:

• A hike in and a hike back out. It’s not a drive-up attraction.
• A guide descends first with no safety rope to set the lines. Harry’s note is that these men are putting themselves at risk so that he can do this.
• Three separate lines, and a considerably bigger operation than the practice day.
• They go down in pairs. There is a rainbow below them at the start.
• It’s exhausting — his arms ache halfway — and then it gets wet, and then slippery, and then he is inside the waterfall itself.
• Getting out of the falls at the bottom is its own problem, and the water is powerful after recent rain.

His verdict at the bottom: one of the best experiences of his life, and the sketchiest, and the guides were professionals throughout.

Before dropping, he records the monologue that has since become a tip page: face your fears, get outside your comfort zone, that’s where you feel most alive and where the magic happens.

Harry’s tips

• Take a guide and a 4x4. The terrain is mountainous and remote and there is no infrastructure to fall back on.
• Do the donkey race and don’t hit the donkey. You’ll lose. He did.
• Cans, not bottles, on the pub crawl.
• Do the practice abseil properly — three qualifying drops, and the confidence is the point.
• Pack for cold. It is cold and wet even in summer.

Source

• 48 hours in Lesotho - the World’s Strangest Country 🇱🇸 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQU0lNJ3B7k