I have hiked Table Mountain for more than 30 years and I have seen some rather strange things. One rather hot afternoon in February this year I was hiking India Venster alone, and being a particularly hot afternoon there was not a soul to be seen on the trail. I stopped to have a sip of water after crossing the amphitheater, just before the first scramble. I was sure there was nobody on the route, I had been keeping an eye out from the halfway point, from where you would see anyone approaching from a long way off. I was resting, appreciating the view of the city when I suddenly became aware of movement coming towards me hurriedly on my left hand side. I quickly established that the somewhat frenzied approach was not a threat to my safety but rather a plea for assistance. It turns out, this hiker had gotten himself pretty lost and into difficulties, had seen me at the halfway point and rushed and scrambled his way across the ‘Skywalk’ to reach me.
So here’s the story. It turns out he is Benson, from Zimbabwe, and he works as a waiter at a well known restaurant in Long street. He had arrived on Tafelberg Road around 9.00 am, completely unprepared for what lay ahead. He had no hiking kit with him at all just a mobile phone. From what I was able to establish, he started at Platteklip Gorge where he had his last sip of water from the stream, then turned right at the contour path. He told me that he found a path that went up the mountain past a cave on his right (Union Cave?) and then likely to Yellowstone Ravine. In putting together the pieces I believe he went up Union Ravine and eventually lost the pathway, which admittedly can be unclear at times. He then did the best to climb upwards and towards the cable car lines which he could see in the distance. He says he climbed up a steep scramble which he thought would lead him to a clear pathway for some reason but eventually found himself on a narrow ledge with his back to the mountain and no easy way down. He was too scared to jump from the ledge he had wriggled onto and also became scared of slipping off. He had no option but to stay where he was and wait for help, all the time terrified that he would slip off the ledge and be seriously injured if he even tried to move. After about two hours it dawned on him that help was not going to be walking past anytime soon and he decided to call emergency services for help. He called 10111 from his cellphone, which was already running low on power. While he did manage to let the police know he was in trouble on Table Mountain he was unable to describe to the police where he was at all. This was his first time on the mountain and he could not name one of the routes he had used. When the battery died and help was still not arriving he decided to climb down in spite of the risk. He says he threw his shoes down to the level below him and with bare feet he did manage to get himself off that ledge safely. In my opinion, at this point he should have called it a day. But onward and upwards he went, finally crossing Africa Ravine, hot, sweaty, no water, no sunhat, no mobile phone, no map, no laces, no clue!
To his credit, by pressing on in a general westward direction he eventually saw me moving leisurely up the amphitheater and did a bundu bashing crossing to intercept me. By this point he had already been in the blazing sun for 6 hours and was very grateful for my spare 750ml water which he gulped down in record time. Once I had established that he was in reasonable shape in spite of his ordeal, I pointed the way down. He was having none of that! No, he wanted to complete the hike and would I please lead the way! Ok, we spent a few minutes there and I got the full story out of him. He had called the police and I know they would have passed the rescue effort on to Mountain Rescue. I called Mountain Rescue directly and after confirming his identity they were able to cancel the search party which was already mobilised on the mountain. I was asked to give them a confirmation call when we arrived at the top, which we did. The moral of the story? Always carry much more water than you yourself will need, lost hikers can get really thirsty!