Semonkong, Lesotho Ian Cox

Roads are revolutions. Just think, a couple of years ago it took a 4X4 and twelve hours to drive from Durban to Semonkong. Now you can do it in a compact in about six. No that is a bit of an exaggeration. I did it in just over six hours in my trusty Toyota Hilux. A compact would find the going between Matatiele and Quacha’s Nek slow going so add an hour or so. But once in Lesotho compacts were everywhere. That is what a tar road does.

Yup the road from Quacha’ s Nek to Semonkong and then onto Maseru is now tar. It was built recently by the Chinese though God alone knows how the Lesotho people will pay f or it. Perhaps they will make Gauteng pay through the sale of water. After all Lesotho and its water pretty much controls the fate of that Province these

days. Perhaps that is why the Chinese were prepared to lend Lesotho the money to build the road in the first place?

Whatever the reason for its existence, the road is something else and well worth the trip just for the experience of driving it. But this time the road trip was incidental to the fishing and the fishing was special.

Back in the 1950’s Semonkong was a small agricultural outpost that boasted a runway and a f ishing lodge and a spectacular waterfall. Getting there involved a long ride on horseback or a hairy flight in a light aircraft. However, fishing was such that enough fly fishers were prepared to dice with death and fly in often enough to make the Lodge viable.

That Lodge is still there albeit in a far more luxurious condition and is still offering fishing trips in addition to the more touristy fair of abseiling the Maletsunyane falls, pub crawling the local shebeens or riding about the place on horseback or donkey. I am morphologically ill-suited to riding anything more exciting than a motorised seat but this did not matter as I was there to fish for the large brown trout that inhabit the river between the Maletsunyane falls and the weir some 5km upstream. The river is stocked with Rainbow trout below the Maletsunyane falls but that is quite a trek. A less ample me did it a few years back and no doubt I will do it again but thankfully time did not permit on what was a long weekend weekend trip.

Yup, my mate, Karl Schmidt, and I left Durban late in the morning on Thursday 26 April and would have had plenty of time to catch the evening rise were it not for those rains that swept through the country a couple of days earlier. Johnathan Halse who owns the Semonkong Lodge said the river was a little busy. I judged it unfishable. He assured us, however, that the fishing was best when the river came off a flood and that it would be much better in the following days. He was not wrong. The river was fishable on Friday, good on Saturday and bloody fantastic the day we left. So, Thursday afternoon was spent in the pub downing Maloti quarts and chatting to the united nations that were the varied nationalities of our fellow guests, while we waited for the Johannesburg contingent to arrive. Rob Mulder and Richard Adams arrived just in time for dinner having left Johannesburg somewhat late on a busy day doing other things. As I said that road is amazing!

You don’t miss dinner at the Semonkong Lodge. The menu is small, but the food and service were amaz ing. Bar prices are also very reasonable. Johnathan runs a tight ship, so it cam e a s n o surprise tha t ou r accommodation was comfortably perfect for a bunch of aging fly anglers. Happily, the lodge offers a spread of accommodation so for those who are allergic to spending their fishing money on a room you only sleep in, there is dormitory accommodation or even c amping available. And the rates are reasonable. Bed and breakfast in top end accommodation will cost you between R1370 and R2055 per night. The dormitory accommodation will set you back R250 per night bed only and the camping R150 per night. Food prices range in the family steakhouse category but as I said the food is much better.

The reception at SemonkongLodge

Fishing is limited to flyfishing and catch and release only. Thankfully no one said anything about barbless hooks because once you hook into one of Semonkong’s monsters you do not want to lose them. Fish have been caught north of ten pounds so leave your small stream stuff at home.

I tried a 3wt for a while, but truth be told, I was much happier fishing with my Guide 2 10ft 5wt. We got away with 3x tippet in the dirty water on Friday but had switched to 4x with the cleaner water we encountered on Saturday. I would have switched to 5x on Sunday had we fished. It goes without saying that the quality of your tippet material is important. In this regard I’ve found that Stroft mono performed the job admirably. The zipper mouth lads swear by it and it is by far the best bang for buck of the premium quality tippet material. Some of the prices you pay for that stuff nowadays makes your hair curl but that is another story.

The fishing is also a guided affair. This is to support the local community in its efforts to preserve the fishing and the general appearance of the river. It is working. The river was noticeable less littered than when I was last in Semonkong. A day ticket will cost you R180 per day which includes the cost of a guide.

We were ably assisted by Baputhi Makafane. He is the lodge’s head of river guiding. He was very enthusiastic and was excited to learn about what we were doing in South Africa to extend the trout fishing value chain into rural communities. He is on Facebook and can be contacted through Facebook messenger.

We split into two groups with a day each fishing the waters above and below the lodge. This is a big river, so we had more than enough water to keep us fully occupied.

Access to the river is easy and it can be waded but not when we were there. There are paths a plenty and the guides will show you the best way to get about. I do recommend a wading staff of some sort as you spend a lot of time clambering up and down over rocks. I use a cut down surf rod which is fantastic. A decent hat and sunscreen are also essential as the sun is fierce at altitude. You will also need to carry your own water as the stuff in the river is most definitely not potable.

The fishing itself is surprisingly uncomplicated for a brown trout fishery. The guides recommend hopper patterns when fishing dry, not that we did much of that. The river was flowing far to strongly. They favor woolly bugger type streamers when fishing wet, but we preferred small nymphs. All our fish were caught on nymphs’ imitations of the Zak or damsel variety. My two fish, a 41 and 45 cm were caught short line nymphing, but Rob Mulder and Karl Schmidt caught using a more traditional upstream cast and retrieve wet fly technique.

We did not catch much but the fish are plentiful if the evening rise in front of the lodge is anything to go by. Karl picked up one on a DDD but we would have all been much more successful if we could have waded into a position where one could better manage drag.

But somehow one fish a day did not really matter. The whole experience was sublime as was the cosmopolitan nature of the space. Both Rob and I were strongly reminded of trekking trips we had done in Nepal. The guests really came from all over the world. During our short stay we met a bunch of Thai scuba divers, a couple of Japanese, another couple from Holland, an Oxbridge man who had cycled the Nile not to mention the American lass who worked for their coast guard. And this is the tip of the iceberg.

I started off by saying that roads are revolutions, and this is certainly true of Lesotho. The place has changed noticeably since my earlier visits before the roadbuilding started. There is a lot more economic activity about the place and a hustle and bustle that was not there previously. The opportunities to fish some of the more remote areas that were previously almost inaccessible has also greatly increased. Johnathan has plans in this regard to watch this space.

The trip was short, but I loved every bit of it. I will be back. You will as well, if you take the trouble and make the first trip.