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- The man set out for a gentle stroll down the lower slopes of the nature reserve.
- But he never came back, after the doors were closed many hours later.
- Finally, around 24 hours later, his body was discovered high on the mountain cliffs.
A hiker died high on a mountain in the Cape Town metropolitan area, after an epic hunt in bad winter weather. The 58-year-old man had initially gone for a gentle walk on the lower slopes of the Helderberg Nature Reserve in Somerset West.
Almost 24 hours later, his body was found high in the mountains on Friday. He could have suffered a fatal fall on a rocky cliff high above the city of vineyards.
Wilderness Search & Rescue (WSAR) spokesman Johann Marais said the nature reserve manager called them for help around 5 p.m. Thursday, after the man’s wife reported that he should return.
“The man had made it a point to walk the Sugarbird Route and did not return at 4:00 p.m. as he had agreed with his wife. By then, rangers had already patrolled the route. WSAR had more than 17 operatives in the field on foot and, when possible, in 4×4 he looks for this person until the wee hours of the morning. “
This was coordinated from a “Joint Operations Center (JOC)”, set up in a high-tech “Incident Command Center” vehicle provided by the Western Cape Government Department of Health. “The search resumed earlier today,” Marais continued.
After several hours of searching the nature reserve’s network of mountain trails and narrow trails on Friday morning, the search party found the man, dead, amid swirling northwestern clouds and cold winter rain.
Marais said: “We are saddened to report that the body of a man has been found. He was mortally wounded when he fell somewhere on the road.”
The location is understood to be between Porcupine Ridge and Saddle, or in the deep gorge directly below. “Her family has received the sad news. We share her pain.”
Despite successfully locating the man, rescuers have yet to retrieve the body.
“The body is being packed and we will wait for the weather to improve to get the body off the mountain,” Marais reported.
