The following incident occurred in February 1996 while I was visiting the acting camp manager of Sirheni Bush Camp, Hein Grobler, in the Kruger National Park.
Arriving at Sirheni late one afternoon after driving all the way from my home town Vereeniging, (about 7 hours’ drive), I was informed that Hein had gone to Skukuza to have a malaria test done at the local doctor. Without unpacking I decided to go for a drive.
As I crossed the low-water bridge I was surprised to find that the gravel road towards Babalala picnic spot was open, despite recent heavy rains. To be on the safe side, I drove towards the tar road to Babalala to see if the gravel road was open from the other side and whether it was possible to drive on the loop.
It was open. So, I took the gravel road back towards Sirheni, which had a few dry drifts to cross. About 8 km from camp on the gravel road I had to cross a little drift. From where I was, it didn’t seem like it should be a problem so I decided to proceed. On doing so I got stuck in the loose sand. So, I got out of the vehicle and started putting branches under the tires – to no avail. Eventually, I had tried every possible method without success.
Being a frequent visitor to my friends in the park, I knew the camp managers made sure all guests were back at the camp when the gates closed in the afternoon. So, I waited until it was about the time for visitors to return to camp and decided to blow the hooter of the vehicle in the hope of attracting someone’s attention. I hoped they would realize I was in a predicament and needed assistance, and was sure help would follow.
By 19h00 a light rain started falling and prevented me from walking the 8 km to camp. By now, my tiring journey in excess of 600 km to Kruger Park through the night, made me feel sleepy. I thought I might as well doze off a bit while I was waiting in the hope that help would arrive. At around 22h30 I woke up feeling very cold and wet, and I was frantic when I saw that the car was filled with water up to the seats! When I looked up through the windscreen I could see the water coming over the bonnet of the vehicle and with the rapidly rising water, I knew I had to do something – fast!
Luckily my suitcase was still in the vehicle so I packed all my loose item into it and focussed on getting out. Opening the door proved to be a challenge with the force of the water against it – kicking it open with force from the inside looked like the only solution. By now it was dark. As I kicked the door open I already had my suitcase in hand, only to have my legs knocked out from under me with the force of the water streaming through under the vehicle.
So, there I was being washed away from the car, still clinging to my suitcase. I got swept about 10 m before I grabbed onto a bush on the side of the stream where I could pull myself out. I clung to that bush for dear life, trying to not be swept further away in the now fast flowing stream. I pulled myself out of the stream onto “dry” land, and as I tried to orientate myself, I realised that I was in Mopani veld – a very popular terrain for animals like lion, elephants, rhinos and buffalo.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of metal crushing – my vehicle was hitting trees and rocks inside the stream, as the water swept it up in its fury. I knew for a certainty that I needed to get off the ground and find myself a high spot if I was going to survive the night. Due to the sky being so grey and clouded I could see some of the tree silhouettes – all with an average height of 2.5 m. I needed something taller.
I started making my way through the trees looking for something high and to put some distance between me and the raging river. After about a 15 minute walk I started seeing higher trees which were climbable. What a relief knowing I just might be safe if I could find the right tree. Then, I saw a tree with the potential to protect me from anything on ground level.
At this stage, dressed in a wet T-shirt and shorts, the cold had set in with a vengeance! I walked up to the potential tree and looked at my options of how to get into it without abandoning my suitcase. Carefully, I started climbing, concentrating on not losing hold of either the tree or the suitcase! Once I found a branch strong enough to hold me, I sat with my suitcase on my legs. I needed to get warm clothes because the chilly night was fast becoming a long cold one. I managed to fish 2 T-shirts and 2 shorts out of my suitcase, and with a major balancing and contortionist act, managed to put them on. Then, I took my belt and tied myself to the main branch to ensure that I wouldn’t fall out of the tree if I happened to fall asleep.
Tied to a tree in the middle of the bush and the cold depths of night, I thought (with my empathy) of how Harry Wolhuter must have felt being up in a tree! At bout 02h00 , I suddenly heard the oh-so- familiar sound of elephants feeding, and they were close by. Branches were breaking accompanied by the low rumble elephants make. I confess, by then, I was just waiting for my supporting branch to break… Any chance for sleep was now gone.
As quickly as I heard the sounds it went quite…I guess they must have become aware of my presence and decided to move off in search of other feeding grounds. Those were tense moments, but I was relieved and relaxed and tried to unwind after their departure. I realized that I had to start making plans for getting back to camp once the sun rose. I planned to start walking at around 07h00 when it was clear skies, but when the first light came through the Mopanies at about 05h00, I climbed down the tree and surveyed my surroundings.
On the ground beneath my tree, I saw two sets of lion tracks heading towards the road… I realized how fortunate I was that they didn’t even realize I was up in the tree as there were no signs of them stopping at the tree. My senses started working overtime to try and see where the lions had gone to.
I decided to quickly just walk towards the flowing stream again just to have a look if I can see the vehicle, once I have reached the stream I could see the vehicle lying on its roof caught between two rocks. I turned and started walking towards the road, once at the road I walked from tree to tree for just in case those lions haven’t walked to far and I need to get to safety.
Then, suddenly I heard a vehicle approaching and at first it was weird as I couldn’t believe the roads would be open for public after the rains. Once the vehicle came into sight I could see the sudden stop of the guests. Well I would have been surprised as well, for it must have been very strange to see a person walking in the middle of the Kruger with a suitcase! After a long explanation, the guests took me to the camp.
The camp manager immediately contacted the workshop department at Shingwedzi to recover my vehicle from the stream. Once the recovery team was deployed the flat bed stayed at the tar road and the grader and front-end loader went to the spot where I got stuck. Right there, the grader got stuck as well, so the front-end loader went through the bush to where the vehicle was stuck. Fortunately, they eventually recovered it. The whole incident made me appreciate nature so much more and gave me a far greater respect for water as well. Now, I can strongly identify with how Harry Wolhuter must have felt sitting in a tree with lion around him! Hopefully, I will never have to experience such a situation again.