Dragons Wrath 2010

Hi Mark

As can be seen from the comments on the forum, we are all shocked and really saddened that you have lost a friend, it is not an easy thing to deal with. This has no doubt been a difficult experience and one that must have taken a good deal of courage to write the account that you have. Condolences again.

Initially it appeared that it was a tragic accident due to toilet paper being lit, however you seem clear that you had anticipated the danger from this. If in fact it was local people whose design was theft, then as has been mentioned it is very worrying, such thoughtless and reckless behavior is not something you should have to deal with whilst engaging in your favorite pastime.

As st² mentioned, when he and I came down Rockeries and came across that large group of smugglers, it was rather a frightening experience given that there were only two of us vs 20 odd, but at no time did I fell that any harm would come to us. They had a job to do, and did not want any trouble. I think the trouble comes from those who are not involved with smuggling, ie no potential income, or during the smuggling down-time.

It is not always easy to determine if people are actively spying, or just curious, one would not want to create an atmosphere of tension and mistrust by reacting aggressively toward all who we perceived as a threat, some might have over active imaginations and see threats were there are none.

When there is just myself and a mate hiking, we are always very vigilant If we see people that have no good reason for hanging around, we keep an eye on them and usually try to only pitch our tents after they have disappeared, once even having to leave it till after sunset, and then we hid ourselves in a small gully. Perhaps we were overreacting, however we have never had an incident.

Keep the numbers of all the various parks board camps and mountain rescue on your mobile. If you can't get through to the camp in the area that you are hiking, at least you could try the others.

Perhaps there is a way to lobby for increased vigilance and or patrols from the army/police force, get them to do some high altitude training or something. I know that in the past, there was an army presence in the Cathedral Peak area. If this kind of negative thing starts to have an impact on tourism, then there might be a need for such action.

Mark

This is horrible news, all the more worse since it could have been murder. I would also like to extend my condolences, for what it's worth.

We were hiking in the Mnweni in early August when a small donkey train started a fire on the eastern bank of the Mnweni river. I assume they started it because when we spotted it, it was the size of a camp fire and some 20m behind the donkey train. I suspect one of them discarded a cigarette or the like. Within moments the whole eastern side of the Mnweni cutback was in flames, save for Mnweni pass itself. We ascended it, keeping a watchful eye on the fire. Later that night, from a vantage point above Mponjwane cave, we saw the fire creep out onto the escarpment out of Mnweni pass.

I don't believe this fire was started with us in mind, but simply out of carelessness and neglegence by an inconsiderate fool. However it's not a stretch to imagine that the locals will start a fire with the sole intention to scare off and harm hikers.

I know the KZN Wildlife rangers have been trained and armed, and they've killed a few smugglers in various confrontations. If anyone will take action it will be KZN Wildlife, and not the police or army.

Some time ago now, in Sept 2002 a group of 3 of us experienced something unusual after arriving at Twins. We'd walked across from Mponjwane that day and had reached the cave at about 4pm. We'd dropped down the top section of Mlambonja pass in the usual approach to the cave when coming from the escarpment. About 30 minutes after arriving at the cave we noticed a guy on his own (in his 30s or 40s) about 200 to 300m down the slope from the cave on the Mnweni side. I expect that he heard us but he did not acknowledge us either then or later. We were astonished to see him start to light the very dry grass and bush along a levell line of about 50m in the gully directly below Twins. He lit the grass in several places standing by to make sure it was burning before moving on to the next section. The fire burnt fairly rapidly up to the cave, filling it with thick smoke. The guy casually made his way down the slope towards the Ntonjelane valley. The fire climbed up the narrow neck between Twins and the escarpment and was going to make it through to the Cathedral catchment but we managed to stamp it out at the narrowest bit.

It has always been unclear to me what was going on here. No one bothered us that night. One member of our party dropped down Mlambonja pass early the next morning and two of us carried on to Tseke Tseke. Neither party saw anyone else on the remaineder of the trip. Of course we discussed the incident at length. In this case the fire was not intended as a ploy to rob us, I'm sure of that. I would say there was a 25% chance that it was done just to cause us nuisance. But in this instance the explanation that sits best with me is that the vege was being burnt either to improve hunting prospects when the new growth came through at the start of the rains or to make it easier to get cattle up that neck. I have not experienced anything similar in many, many berg hiles.

Hi All. Thank you so much for the condolences and support. It has been a difficult time for us and for Simon's family & friends. It is so hard to believe that this young, strong, bright and confident person is gone.
It is not our intention to cause panic but we just feel that there are a few questions as to our missing equipment and the cause of the fire. We are going to continue to alert the public until we can (hopefully) find some truth. We want to hear from any hikers that have had any experience with smugglers, shepherds, vagrants, fires etc.

Below is the article Fiona Knight has submitted to Getaway magazine, hopefully it will be published...


Cathedral peak tragedy

On Saturday 4 September a group of hikers at Cathedral Peak underwent an unimaginable and horrific ordeal in which one of our group fell off the mountain. The remaining five of us spent the night fighting for our lives from uncontrollable fires. This is our story and a warning that weather is not the only danger hikers face in South Africa’s mountains.

On Saturday 4 September a group of six of us set off from Didima camp to climb the Cathedral peak mountain.

We signed the register book and informed the hotel that we would be camping the night at the base before we climbed to the very top the following morning.

It took us a good seven hours to get to the base of Cathedral.
By 4.30pm we had put up the four tents, in very close proximity together.

We made our dinner and by 6.30pm we were ready to climb into our tents and go to sleep.

Whilst we were settling into our tents, 23 year old Simon decided to take a walk to the end of the ‘buttress’ to see the lights of Didima below us. It was a matter of three of four minutes that we heard him shout ‘fuck’. This alerted us to opening our tents.

Twelve meters from our tent a raging fire stretched from one end of the ‘buttress’ to the other, moving in our direction. We screamed to everyone. There was no answer from Simon and within a few seconds it was clear that he had fallen off the edge where there is a cutaway in the mountain.

We ran in the only direction we could to escape the fire and ended a small way down “bugger gulley’. Whilst catching our breaths and re-grouping ourselves, one of our party said she had heard murmuring of voices and footsteps in the grass on the side of her tent.

We were fortunate to have cell phone reception and were in contact with KZN Darren Hiltunen who advised us on what to do and that we would be rescued once there was light. There was a lot of wind which meant the fire was moving everywhere and quickly.

We spent the rest of the night moving around the mountain trying to keep away from the fire and smoke and finally found a burnt piece of the mountain to sit in relative safety until we were rescued by the mountain rescue team. At this point smoke inhalation was our greatest threat.

Tragically Simon did fall to his death on that evening.

We cannot be certain what happened that night and only Simon would be able to tell us. The question does arise as to how the fire was started.

We had spent a large part of the early evening enjoying the view and had not seen a fire for miles. We had very clear rules on not to burn toilet paper due to the very dry conditions, which we adhered to strictly.

The fire had started from the cliff face. How was that possible?

Once we were able to go through all the burnt equipment, and recognizing belongings we became aware that one ruck-sack with a camera was missing entirely.

We have to ask the question whether this fire could possibly have been started to frighten us off the mountain so as to claim our belongings.

Could Simon have heard people and run to the tents warning us, resulting in that fatal step? Who is to say? Could the wind have blown the fire up the cliff face? Simon would have seen that?

We just want to warn hikers of more than just the weather changes of the berg when they sign the book to do an overnight hike in the berg.

I am an avid hiker, particularly of the Drakensberg and feel very sad that we even have to consider attacks in these majestically beautiful mountains.

Each individual needs to make their own decisions about their safety, but that can only be done if they have the full knowledge of developments in the area. Personally I will never again feel safe to sleep in the mountains.

Hi All

I wish to clarify some issues relating to my previous posting on this subject.

In trying to be brief it appears that my brevity has created some misconceptions.

The Basutho smugglers, whilst local to Lesotho, should not be confused with local Shepherds.
The Stimelas operating out of Lesotho have done so for many years (the name given to Stimela Ridge being a prime reminder of this)and as ST notes, ' "they have a job to do".

Basutho sheperds on the other hand, whilst having a job to do, have a lot of idle time on their hands. Often, when ascending passes, we have been watched the entire time - often 4-6hours - until topout.
They also live locally and as such are not easily able to move out of their allocated grazing areas. Many times on the summit we have been followed, at a distance or within speaking range, until a point that it appears they can go no further. This does not appear to be dictated by a loss of interest more than a prescribed boundry. This observation may be used in your favour if you are concerned about unwanted interest. By moving far enough away from the territory of locals who have seen and followed you, it may well place you out of range of mischief.

The incident under discussion has some similarities to the attack on two hikers on the summit many years ago. During the course of the evening some (2) local shepherds threw rocks onto the tent in which the two male hikers were sleeping. Both men were seperated in the confusion. One gent made it to safety, but his companion was missing. Although his body was found at the base of a cliff; with headwounds, and the two local youths were caught and tried for murder, it was not conclusively proved as to whether they had disposed of the body, or if the hiker had run over the cliff edge in the dark and thus killed himself.
Interestingly, due to the fact that tribal territory has a bearing, the two youths were easily apprehended.

As to my statement of an 'aggresive' approach being taken when one feels undue attention is being paid to your party, let me correct that to 'pro-active'.
Remain vigilant (I use binoculars), let the watchers know that they are being watched, move away from the area if you feel unsafe (this may be a schlep, but consider the possible alternate consequences). Post a rotational night watch, even if there are only two of you.
Choose your campsites with this factor in mind. This may well mean avoiding the most comfy spot. Lights at night are seen from far, and an illuminated tent becomes a large lantern. Use light sparingly, use red light if possible.
Try and avoid creating opportunity. In Africa, opportunity is grabbed with both hands!

Report any undue attention, or aggresive behaviour to the Ranger in Charge on your return (as Intrepid notes, avoid reporting incidents to arbitrary staff members).

Bored curiosity should not be mistaken for undue attention. Put yourself in the gumboots of a man or boy, who sleeps on a mud floor, eats very little and spends 7 days a week mostly sitting in an undeniably harsh environment.

As to my comment about reporting observed Smugglers, please note that this is a subject that needs much discussion. The running of dagga is a big money business. If it becomes known that hiking parties are reporting on these issues, this could create violent and possibly fatal reaction.
Until a solution is found,and even then, we should simply try to remain friendly, keep our distance and hopefully keep safe.

It is sad that this should be a necessity, but I still think that a bad day in the Berg is way better than a good day in the office; where the most dangerous thing one might face is a paper-cut.

As to thoughts of hiking at night, and during full moon, be aware that the majority of movement by smugglers is at night. We have on two to three occasions "collided" with smuggling parties whilst hiking at night.

To Mark and his party, whilst this is raw, please consider carefully the results of placing an article in public media, until all facts have been investigated, and it has been proven beyond doubt that this was more than a set of random events that led to a tragic accident.

Keep safe, keep commenting, we should all be allowed to learn from experience.

Interestingly, in September last year two British hikers were lifted from Cathedral Peak due to a runaway fire that had started in the early hours of the morning.
While they were at no time in danger, they were rescued because wind speeds were vey high.
The fire burned for over 20 hours before being bought under control.

Hi, I am a first timer on the forum, but have an intemate knowledge of the Drakensberg. Unfortunately fire is a major part of the Drakensberg and annually a fair percentage of the Park is burnt by various types of fires. Whether they were started by illegal immegrants, smugglers, stock thieves or herders, the consequences are usually the same as they are destructive and mostly occur under adverse conditions that favour the rapid spread of fires. It is thus good to take heed of the article that is posted on the blog and to be prepared at all times when hiking in the Park. Always carry matches or a lighter in your pocket, and as we all know, good campsites are found and not made... The same rule applies when it comes to fires, plan your campsite with fire in mind... and know what to do when you are in a situation where you are threatened by a fire!