What I Did This Summer...

[Hookemdown.]

This summer I went on a mission/humanitarian trip to Semonkong and Ha Bati, Lesotho. (It's a little country in the middle of South Africa)

After seeing Root Beer's pics of the AT, I thought I'd post a few pics of my trip. It's a beautiful country, and the people live a simpler (sometimes better) life.

[endless]

Those are very beautiful photos. I really like the last one. Is that clouds or rays from the sun? I love their homes. Thanks for sharing!!

[Hookemdown.]

I was in Lesotho for 2 weeks and in Cape Town for 2 weeks. When we were in Lesotho we alternated between living in an old abandoned hospital building and huts.

Needless to say, it was quite cold (temps in the 10's and 20's). The huts were amazingly warm...some of them had this homemade concrete floor, but most of the floors were a dung/straw mixture. They were extremely well made. They had crude furniture...everything was real simple. Mostly everything was metal (imported) or made out of the mud/straw cement stuff, as trees are very rare in the region (it's actually illegal to cut trees down...I think).

[Root beer]

That's pretty cool. Did you have any spare time to explore some of their wilderness or did you pretty much stay nearby where you were working at?

[Bassn Blvd]

You had quite a good summer and kudo's to you for helping other people.

I laughed at the window in the first picture. It seems someone lost their level.

[grimlin]

Thanks for sharing.

The scenery looks absolutely stunning.

[Hookemdown.]

That's pretty cool. Did you have any spare time to explore some of their wilderness or did you pretty much stay nearby where you were working at?

We got a few days off, but it wasn't "recommended" that you ventured off by our self far away from camp. That being said, the journey itself was an exploration. The road that goes by the village was basically made by the guys we were with about 5 years ago. Their Land Cruiser is the only vehicle that has ever made it into the village. We also went off on horseback a few (I think seven?) times to the neighboring villages. Some of them were extremely remote.

It took an hour just to get water. We even had a 30 minute climb up a nearby mountain (the village was in a valley) just to go use the bathroom. But I must say...that was the most scenic poop I've ever had.

On the day before we were scheduled to leave, a blizzard started brewing...so we had to evacuate a day ahead of time. One of the two vehicles broke down...so most of the team left for Semonkong (a bigger village about 2 hrs away) on horseback. I stayed with a few South African guys to help load up the stuff. Our trip outta there consisted of a little 4x4ing, hiking (a few of the guys walked through the blizzard back to camp...it was pretty legit), and an emergency plane ride out of Semonkong before the blizzard really set in.

All in all...it was an amazing trip. I can't wait to go back.

[Root beer]

That's awesome.

[Mrs. Matstone]

That is fantastic. Looks like a trip that you were very blessed to have been able to go on. Great pictures too. Thank you for sharing.