Epic Adventure II: VERY VERY Near Death Experience

Warning: this blog contains an account of the worst experience of my entire life...


The next day we set out on the road again in extreme heat with a serious hike ahead of us, the very long and hilly trek to Coffee Bay. We wandered along the road for a while before cutting across to the coastal paths. There was a massive hill which is actually the second highest mountain in the world (anyone who says that is K2 is lying) so that required an epic bit of hiking. The views from the top were phenomenal, totally worth it. The coast here is absolutely beautiful, especially on a sunny day like that. We kept on going, crossing this gorge which we think might have been the 'Baby Hole', it also should go on the list of stunning places near Zithulele (it could take a considerable amount of time to finish compiling that list!). We dropped down onto the beaches and wandered along the rocks, continuing along kilometre after kilometre of endlessly gorgeous beaches.

Some of the stunning scenery on the way

Eventually we got to a beach where there we two options: another hike up K2 or hopping along the rocks at the bottom. We decided to go rock hopping, but soon discovered that the rocks ran out. Not wanting to walk all the way back along the beach (and after vetoing Sam's suggestion that we swim!?) Sam suggested that we climb along the rock face a bit and for some reason I agreed and we started going up. The sensible part of my brain (i.e. 99.9% of it) was screaming 'NO NO NO NO NO NO' but in an idiotic move I found myself gritting my teeth and climbing up up up despite my epic fear of heights. It was really difficult to climb up due to the fact that the rock face was made of slate and so crumbled away when you put your weight on it and was also covered in gravel which made it very slippery. With a backpack on, bare feet and extreme fear of heights, nothing was really in my favour and I remember saying out loud as we climbed that this was definitely the most stupid thing I had ever done – words which could not be truer. As it became more and more clear that what had looked like a path across from the ground was in no way passable, we both became increasingly more scared until the point when Sam could see no further way up from the front and I could see no way that we were going down, except from falling to our deaths. So we were stuck.







Hanging on the side of the cliff, with Sam almost in tears at the thought of being stuck there and a million horrible deaths below flashing through my mind, I'm not sure I've ever been more scared. The only way was down, but it would be impossible to climb down backwards when the rocks crumbled beneath us and we couldn't see where we were putting our feet. The drop was very long and punctuated with sharp outcrops - even one mistake would lead us to certain death. I genuinely thought it was the end for us both.







Somehow through the thoughts of imminent death and my all consuming fear of heights I made the rational decision to move one step down onto a small ledge and sit down, Sam following straight behind. We sat huddled on the cliff, looking out at the ironically beautiful scenery and considered our ridiculously not-beautiful situation. I phoned 112, the international emergency number, feeling safe in the fact that someone out there would be able to help. Surely someone had been as stupid as us before and survived?







After listening to some machine tell me that I would be fined if this wasn't a real emergency and that they were recording the call for training purposes (training purposes -I'M GOING TO DIE, DO I CARE?), I was put through to the operator. Here is a rough transcript of our conversation, which I repeated with another two people after being transferred around a bit:







Kayleigh: Hello, we need help, we are stuck on the side of a cliff between Hole in the Wall and Coffee Bay and we can't get down.



Operator: Ok, where are you?



Kayleigh: I'm on the side of a cliff, between Hole in the Wall and Coffee Bay.



Operator: What vehicle do you have?



Kayleigh: We're on foot, we're stuck, we need to be rescued, can we speak to a coastguard?



Operator: Ok Ma'am, please hold.



*horribly inappropriate hold music, inappropriate due to a) it being hold music during an emergency [Kirsty I bet you are loving this!], b) it being reggae*



Operator: Ma’am, why can't you move?



Kayleigh: We. Are. Stranded. High. On. The. Side. Of. A. Cliff



Operator: Ok, Ma’am, where are you?



Kayleigh: Please, we will need a helicopter to get us off here, is there a coastguard?



Operator: I'm going to put you through to towing, please hold.



*brief pause*



Towing operator: 'Hello Ma’am, what vehicle do you have?'



Kayleigh: *hangs up*







And that's how Sam and I learned that 112 in South Africa is a bit, no wait, COMPLETELY useless. Sam made another attempt with much more success - they offered to send the Cape Town fire service to our aid. How wonderful.







With emergency services blatantly not an option, we phoned someone who might actually help, Dr Ben Gaunt, who within one second proved to be more helpful than 112 had in about 8 phone calls. He managed to grasp the basic facts that 112 hadn't, so understood that towing was not a viable lifesaving option and after assuring us he would make a plan and that we should stay put where we were safe, hung up and set about trying to save us. Sam and I were now left alone, hopeless, many feet up in the air, terrified.







I honestly couldn't see any way we were going to get out of there alive, and if we did, I felt certain that we would be repatriated within a second. (Cue Hermione Granger quote: 'We could be killed, or worse, expelled!) We both began to worry how long we would be left there, what if it started to blow a gale, what if they couldn't find us, what if our phones ran out. My fear increased exponentially with every second that I sat there, luckily frozen in place by terror. I worried that one or both of us would be tempted to climb down and fall to a horrible end, I worried that I would slip off the ledge, I worried that if a helicopter came the wincher would drop us, I worried that I'd never go back to Zithulele, I worried I'd never get to go to Cambridge, I worried that I'd never see anyone from home again....it was the worst feeling in the world, to sit there, not knowing if you would live past the end of the day.







Back in Zithulele, things had obviously been put in motion because we were called every so often by Tom and Taryn as they tried to ascertain where we were. Tom and some other guys had set off with a load of ropes and equipment and though maybe he could abseil down to rescue us, while I think Taryn was working on finding a helicopter. It's crazy that they had to even think about doing that when you consider that in the UK we have the coastguard that would have been there pretty damn quickly when you said that two teenage girls were stuck half way up a cliff!







We tried to stay optimistic on the cliff edge, but it was really hard. I prayed to every God I could think of, surely now was not the time? I couldn't stop wondering how I had possibly been so stupid and vowed never to be so idiotic if I ever got onto the ground safely.







Anyway, I'll cut a long essay on 'What I Thought About For Two Hours When I Thought I Was Going To Die' short and tell you how the heck we got out of there! Two and a half hours had passed on the ledge and it was getting a bit desperate but then someone up there in heaven smiled on us and a little head popped up on the ledge, the face of our rescuer. He was a young boy called Nomfeto, and we owe our lives to him. He had scrambled up the cliff like it was nothing and offered to take us down as long as we could answer the fateful question, 'How much?' Luckily, I think value of my life was more than any amount of rands so with our assurances that we would give him anything as long as he got us the hell off that cliff, he took our bags and one by one showed us a safe route down the cliff face. After that, he led us to the road where Tom picked us up and then we were back to safety and continued on our weekend in Coffee Bay, all adventured out.







I have never ever been so grateful to be on the ground and to be alive. It was incredible and we were both euphoric after the incredible stress of the last few hours. I still can't believe that it really happened but damn, I have learnt my lesson.







Please don't worry about me! I don't intend on repeating that experience ever. Ever.







I have to say that we are both eternally grateful to everyone who tried to help us get out of that stupid situation alive, we owe you big time.







Hopefully my next post will be a bit cheerier! (And less epic...)







xxxxx