WILDERNESS SEARCH & RESCUE

Welcome to Wilderness Search and Rescue, Western Cape!

Our Mission 

“Wilderness Search and Rescue: Western Cape” (hereinafter referred to as WSAR) 

To coordinate, manage and execute search and rescue missions; To medically  treat,  search for, rescue and/or recover, persons and/or patients whose health is threatened or compromised in a Wilderness Environment"

Thank You Letters . . .

Dear Dr Roos - I want to sincerely thank you and the rest of the team involved in my rescue a week ago. When we met I was very close to the end of my resources, and may well not have made it back to the road. 
I am even more grateful for what your, and others', efforts meant for my wife. She was hugely impressed by the scale of the operation and the professionalism with which it was handled. Thank you, thank you. 
I would be grateful if you could circulate this message to others who were involved. I would also appreciate it if you could let me have the necessary details for making a donation.

RECOVERY OF ANDREW RICHARD JOHNS    13 October 2007

                                                                                               1 Merry Lee
                                                                                               Hughes Ave
                                                                                               Bedfordview         

WSAR
Bellville
Cape

Dear Dr. Roos, 

RECOVERY OF ANDREW RICHARD JOHNS

 Saturday 13^th October 2007 is a day our family will not forget!  The day you and your team of over fifty people, of all disciplines and skills, managed to recover our son, brother and husband from Conical Peak where he had fallen to his death on 5^th August 2007. 

We understood from our discussions with you and from articles in the press that this was one of the most difficult operations you had encountered, imposed by technical, logistical and safety challenges which were exacerbated by the severe environment and difficult terrain Andrew had fallen into.

 It is phenomenal that you all accomplished this feat at first attempt and with no incident and one which, even with my limited knowledge, you should all be extremely proud of!

 I hope that more tourists, South Africans and Capetonians, in particular, come to appreciate your selfless efforts in providing the professional and voluntary service you do.

 As a fearless and talented windsurfer, Andrew would certainly acknowledge with gratitude what you have done. I know, however, that he would have been most apologetic for the risks you had to take and for the inconvenience he had imposed on you.

 Please convey our profound gratitude to the team for their key effort in helping to close this tragedy.  We salute you!

 Les, Margaret, David, Penny, Sally and Jessica Johns

A letter from Kiki the tourist that we rescued close to Maclear's Beacon:
 

I’d like to write this true story to express my sincere gratitude to WSAR rescue personnel. Because of their efficiency, braveness, kindness and intelligence, our lives could be saved.

 We began to climb Table Mountain in the morning on 3rd of October. This was my first time to climb a big mountain and my husband, Zhao and I didn’t bring any equipment for mountain climbing. We only had two bottles of water, some bread and some fruits. Both of us had two T-shirts.

We chose a difficult hiking route. At the entrance of the route my husband stored the emergency number printed on a board in his cell phone, but I thought that we would never use that number. The hiking instructions on the board required a group and hiking equipments, however we didn’t pay much attention.

At about 1pm, we reached the top of the mountain and we had a small rest near the cableway station. The weather began to get worse at that moment. It began to rain and the temperature dropped quickly. We decided to climb down because we planned to arrive at the foot of the mountain before getting dark.

We chose the route George. We followed the signs on the road and passed a long wooden bridge. However after the wooden bridge we couldn’t find signs any more. The mist was getting heavier and we were totally wet. I wanted to go back to the cableway station but my husband believed his sense of direction. We believed that there must be a route if we continued progressing and we acted on our instinct, walking on the edge of the cliff. After two hours, at about 4:30 pm we found ourselves on the edge of the cliff and realized that we totally got lost. What was worse, the temperature went down obviously. Our fingers were frozen stiff and the whole body began to get numb with cold. We were surrounded by the heavy mist and our visibility was only about 10 meters. All those we could saw were rocks, plants, raindrops, and mist. We know that if we continued climbing, the situation would get worse definitely and we may fall off the cliff in the darkness. Under this circumstance we called the emergency number and the staff on duty contacted WSAR. Before long, we got the first call from the captain of the rescue team Anwaaz Bent.

Since then, we kept contacting with each other. Mr. Bent told us to stay warm, put all the clothes on and not to move. My husband and I saw a big rock stretching out and we went to hide ourselves there. It was still raining, the wind became stronger and the mist was heavier. We tried hard to recollect every clue which could help us to find our position and exchanged any information with Mr. Bent. My husband used the flashlight of his digital camera to send out signals, but unfortunately the mist was so heavy that nobody could see from far away. Mr. Bent organized and directed the rescue activity and sent three rescue teams to search us. He asked us to stay calm and keep flashing the camera regularly. And he told me to pay attention because the team members would shout my name. My husband and I followed his instructions and encouraged each other. It was almost 8pm. We trembled in the darkness and we were worried whether we could survive this night. During this time, Mr. Bent sent fire alarm and we heard it but not clearly. However we kept phoning each other again and again. Around 9pm, he called us and said they saw our flashlight. We continued flashing and paid attention to any voice. Finally at about 9:30 pm  I heard that someone was calling my name.

One of the team found us. They gave us warm clothes and energy sweets and then helped us climb back to the top of the mountain and then went down by taking the nearest route. One of the team members held my hand and he proposed to put me on his back because he saw that I was tired. I was very grateful but I persevered in walking. They used a rope tied on my husband’s waist to prevent him from sliding. We walked together towards the route down the mountain. On the way, we met another two rescue teams and they guided us walking down the mountain. Another guy  came to hold my hand protecting me from sliding. After a long time of walking, I felt warmer and we chatted with each other. He said if the gate of our hostel was locked at this time he and his wife would be very glad to provide us with accommodation that night and later he left us his phone number and said if we were free he and his friends would take us to go around. When we arrived at the foot of the mountain it was already 00:00. We felt so sorry to keep the guys working so late at night, particularly in such a bad weather. But they all said this was their job. It was a pity that we couldn’t write down all their names at that moment because we were exhausted. At last Mr. Bent drove us to our hostel located in Long Street.

The next day, I received a call from Mr. Bent and he asked whether everything was right and how  we felt. And surprisingly, three days later, when my husband and I were taking a walk in the center of the city we met each other again. This time Mr. Bent was with his beautiful wife and he told us to be careful walking around in the late afternoon.

This experience was a good lesson and so memorable to us. We’d like to thank those kind and brave rescue team members and we learned that safety was of vital importance during travel and never act on instinct without any prudence.

Kiki Zhao
October 14, 2005

Contact Information

Telephone

+27 21 948 9908

FAX

+27 21 852 4391

Postal address

Private Bag X24, Bellville, 7530, Western Cape, South Africa

Electronic mail

General Information: alanbutch@gmail.com
Webmaster: d15@omnipage.co.za