Trapped on a bridge in the Kruger

In January, my siblings and I stayed at Kruger Park Lodge near Hazyview. Of course a day visit to the park was on the itinerary. There were seven of us, so we entered the gates in two vehicles. The landscape was green after good rain and we drove slowly to try and spot animals in the dense vegetation. Our plan was to meet up at the Nhlanguleni picnic site at 10 am for breakfast, but my brother and sisters in the other vehicle accidentally drove past. There was no cellphone reception so we had to just keep driving in the hope of finding them. This proved to be fruitless. Hours later, near Skukuza while we were on our way back to the gate, we received a WhatsApp message from a Belgian tourist: The other vehicle was stuck on a low-water bridge on the S36. My brother Japie Greeff and sister Cornelia Heyns had managed to climb out through the window, but it was too dangerous for my eldest sister Magriet de Bruyn, who is 76 years old and walks with a cane. At Skukuza, Cedric Khosa did everything he could to track down my siblings. After several calls to Satara and park rangers in the area, we came to the conclusion that they were probably still stuck on the bridge. It was already dark when a recovery team was sent out to look for them. We were very worried – the average age of the group is 68! The car had a tracking device so we contacted the tracking company, but it was no use: They’re only allowed to supply this information directly to the police, who can’t enter the park after hours. At 9.45 pm, the recovery team sent word that they’d found my family members. By 10 pm we were all reunited and escorted out of the park. We’ll definitely go back for another visit, but next time we’ll be careful on the low-water bridges… RONEL POTGIETER, Bloemfontein