So said Jay Thornton, owner of Knysna Adventure Centre. Thorton was the tour operator who took the Dutch tourist, Dennis van Duijvenbode (31) and is his female Dutch partner for kloofing in the Goukamma River at Drupkelders in the GRNP on Monday, November 10.
Van Duijvenbode, an orthopaedic surgeon from Amsterdam, was injured when he jumped into a rock pool at Drupkelders. According to a reliable source he fell on his back in the water and aggravated an earlier spinal injury. Thorton said Van Duijvenbode did not fall on rocks. "The rock pool is very deep where he jumped in."
Six Knysna NSRI volunteers embarked on a daring rescue operation to bring Van Duijvenbode to safety. With the injured man strapped into a Stokes basket, they swam about 1km down the river, frequently manoeuvring their patient past waterfalls.
Thornton commented on allegations by SANParks general manager, Jill Bunding-Venter that some operators abuse the permit system by illegally taking visitors off the approved entrances and trials and offering additional activities not allowed according to the official permits allowing entry to the area. "I have been taking tourist for kloofing at Drupkelders for the past 12-years and never had trouble. I do get permits each time when I go in, but never knew it stated that kloofing is not allowed." SANParks spokeswoman, Nandi Mgwadlamba said after the incident, "They had the right permits for access to Drupkelders hiking trial, but permits for kloofing were never issued. SANParks doesn't allow kloofing there at all.
According to Thorton, only he and two other local tour operators, Trip Out Adventures in Paradise and Southern Cape Tours, take tourist to Drupkelders. Donavan Smith of Trip Out Adventures in Paradise denied that offered kloofing activities at Drupkelders and gave his assurance that his company worked closely with SANParks personnel whenever they take guests out there. He described the place as very safe and untouched. "We take them to enjoy the beauty of nature, hiking. We even police the place to keep the environment clean and untouched." Smith has been doing this for ten years.
René Clark of Southern Cape Tours said she didn't encourage people to jump into the water, but they do swim in the river. "Kloofing has a bad name now (after the accident) and we all do the same thing, but do not advocate it."
Thornton said in his 12 years' involvement in kloofing at Drupkelders, not one single tourist had been injured except for scratches small cuts because of the rocks. "There was no single fracture or incident like in Van Duijvenbode's case. We take special care of our clients and will always tell them where to jump or dive and where not." He said he most probably led more than 100 kloofing tours at Drupkelders.
The Drupkelders is a very popular destination for tourists, many of whom use the opportunity to kloof along the Goukamma River, which apparently lends itself to this activity (also called canyoning), which can be treacherous and is not permitted by the the Garden Route National Park.
ARTICLE: CHRISTO VERMAAK, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST
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