Cape Town - An urgent appeal to better manage congestion on Lion’s Head has been made following the death of a 25-year-old hiker who plummeted to his death in front of his fiancée and five-year-old son on Wednesday morning.
Jody Jooste, from Bloubergstrand, had been standing on the edge of the footpath when the rock gave way and he slipped and fell more than 100m.
His body was brought up by the Air Mercy Services helicopter and paramedics declared him dead at the scene.
Safety on the increasingly popular hiking trails on Lion’s Head is now under the spotlight.
Suggestions of a strategy to better manage congestion on Lion’s Head, which receives thousands of visitors, particularly when its full moon, should be implemented, says Beverly Schafer, the parliamentary standing committee chairwoman on economic development and Tourism.
Daniel, a hiker from Mowbray, who asked that his surname not be published, witnessed the fall. Daniel, who regularly hikes Lion’s Head, set out with a friend at about 5.45am that day, by which time the mountain was already “very full” and the paths congested.
The pair reached the chains and ladders that are part of the trail and decided to take a longer footpath instead of going up the chains. He said that as they turned to leave they saw the man falling.
“It could have been that he strayed off the path so much, it could’ve been because of the congestion,” he said.
Daniel said he could hear screams and the sound of his body hitting the rocks.
“Then he basically stopped screaming, and we couldn’t see him but we could still hear him falling.” He said there was a long pause before they heard the final thud. They could not see where he fell.
He said the man appeared to have been hiking up the main path on Lion’s Head, facing Clifton.
A fellow hiker told them that emergency services had been contacted.
“It gets so congested, they’re going to have start monitoring visitors going up there,” Daniel said.
“It’s become such a popular tourist attraction that when people don’t go to the beach they decide to go up Lion’s Head.”
Merle Collins, spokeswoman for Table Mountain National Parks, said the mountain received on average about 4 million visitors across the park each year, and 75 percent of the 900km stretch of trails were open-access trails.
She said it would be very difficult to monitor the area.
“People make a choice. We can tell them to be careful and that there are lots of hikers, but it’s an open-access part of the park and we can’t literally force people not to go up the mountain – it’s not like Cape Point, where we can close the gates, it’s a personal choice and tourists must make the decisions.”
Collins added that they could not discourage visitors from going up the mountain.
“We love people going up there – the views are stunning – but we can only caution people that it’s mountainous terrain and to show some courtesy to fellow hikers and let them pass,” she said.
The areas around Lion’s Head had become extremely popular, with a spillover to the Apostles Battery.
She said thousands of people went up Lion’s Head around the peak festive season.
“Especially if there’s a new moon, we have thousands going up there.”
Collins said a visitor safety centre near Kloofnek Road was helpful and the guides would advise hikers and climbers when there was congestion on the mountain.
She offered condolences to Jooste’s family, saying they would appeal to visitors to be cautious.
“We do have 900km of trails across our national parks, and people need to realise it is wilderness terrain.”
Schafer had been at the foot of Lion’s Head earlier this week, but turned back after seeing the hundreds of visitors queuing as early as 7am.
She had noticed a long queue waiting to climb up the chains on the trails of Lion’s Head, with at least a 30-minute wait to climb.
Concerned about the large number of visitors on the risky mountainous terrain, Schafer suggests that a better safety plan – more signs or tour guides deployed – be enforced.
She said a holiday strategy or plan was definitely needed to educate visitors about safety regulations because there were danger risks when hiking.
“We need to have some kind of plan of action… there needs to be an education process,” she said adding that she had noticed tourists taking young children up the mountain.
Schafer said that while it was wonderful that people were using the mountain, many did not realise its was a space that posed a risk and danger.
Andre van Schalkwyk from Table Mountain Watch, a network promoting mountain crime awareness, agreed that the education was needed but said it would be best at the start of the trail, when visitors got out of their vehicles.
There could be an opportunity for young people to get involved in the advocacy of safety.
“We’ve got so many young people who are willing – even if you paid them a stipend – to engage with people and inform them about which shoes to wear and to be aware of the dangers before they start their hike.”
He said they would be willing to sit down with the city and the province to discuss the option of education.
David Nel from the Mountain Club of South Africa said it was not easy to change people’s perceptions when it came to safety measures.
He said education was essential because many people were not aware of some of the basic rules.
Cape Argus