Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife staff in the Giant's Castle section of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site report the rescue on Monday night 15 Janaury 2007 of two foreign visitors who became lost while hiking in the Park.
Messrs van de Broek (from Canada) and Gin (from England) decided to go walking in Giant's Castle during a stay there in mid-January but in spite of many notices advising visitors to fill in the various hiking registers, failed to enter their details.
At 17.30 that afternoon staff at Giant's Castle received a telephone call from a very agitated Mrs Gin in Durban to the effect that her husband had called her to say that he and his friend were hopelessly lost in the mountains.
She was able to inform staff of the route her husband had taken and a search party was immediately sent out to Giant's Hut which is deep in the mountains.
There was a violent storm raging at the time, with high winds, heavy rain, thunder and lightning.
At 11.30 the EKZNW search party found Mr van de Broek who informed them that Mr Gin was probably at Giant's Hut.
Still battling the storm the search party struggled to Giant's Hut where they found Mr Gin, and, still being buffeted by the storm, Immediately set off back to Giant's Camp which they reached at 02.30 the following morning. Both men were ill-equipped to hike in the Drakensberg, being dressed only in T-shirts and shorts and carried no warm clothing.
It transpired that the two men had decided to take a walk in the mountains via Giant's Hut, Giant's Ridge and Oribi Ridge but had lost the path in the region of Giant's Hut.
Mr van de Broek had stopped to rest at one point and had been left behind by his companion and was unable to rejoin him.
The two men were lucky to have survived the night as the search party had no information about them other than that provided by Mrs Gin.
There are a great many notices and signs at the entrance to the Park, at the Giant's Camp reception and in each accommodation unit advising visitors to fill in the appropriate hiking or day-walk register in case of an emergency. The two men broke several basic Drakensberg hiking rules - they did not seek local advice, were ill-equipped and failed to record their details in any hiking or day-walk register.
In addition, once they realised they were lost they split up, lessening their chances of survival significantly.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife would like to re-iterate the vital need for all visitors to the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park to heed the few safety measures in place for their own safety.
Adequately filling in the hiking or day-walk registers can mean the difference between safety and tragedy.
NEWS ITEM No: 2007 - 01 - 18 by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife
