12 Hikers rescued from flooded canyon

Melanie Gosling

Environment Writer

TWELVE people – including eight South Africans – have been rescued from the flooded Fish River Canyon hiking trail after it received more than its annual rainfall in just a few days last week.

The popular hiking trail has been closed until further notice.

The names of the hikers have not been released.

Francois Snyders, area manager of Namibia Wildlife Resorts, part of the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism, said the Fish River rose to 1.68m at the weekend and was flowing at a rate of 168 cubic metres a second. Snyders oversaw the rescue operation.

“That’s a helluva lot of water and it was flowing fast. We got 50mm of rain, which is more than the annual rainfall for the canyon. In addition to that the whole of the south and south-west of Namibia, the catchment area of the Fish River, also got heavy rains, so the two dams on the river, the Hardop and the Naute, were over capacity and had to open their sluice gates.

“We anticipated that the water would reach us in four days, so we closed the trail. There were 60 people in the trail when we closed it and most people just walked out. There are a few entrances they can take and some went the normal walk-out route,” Snyders said.

His staff used a microlight to spot any hikers that were still in the canyon, and found 12. Some were stranded on a rocky “island”.

“It is very rocky and was very slippery. We reached the last 12 by canoe. The staff canoed them across the river, which was about 20m wide, and they walked out of the canyon from there. Most of the group were South Africans,” Snyders said.

No one had been injured in the floods. He said floods in March had seen the river even higher, but the trail was closed at the time. The trail is open only between May and September as temperatures soar in summer. “We will probably open it at the beginning of June again. It’s bad for business, but getting all this rain has been awesome,” he said.

Ben Beytell, director of Namibia’s Parks and Wildlife Management, said the floodwaters had normally subsided by the time they reached the Fish River Canyon.

“But because of the two large dams that had to open their sluice gates, the water was high, so we brought everyone out. Staff went down and said everyone must get out, and most of them walked. The staff went down in canoes to do a sweep of the river from the start, and helped the last 12 people out,” he said.

Hikers who had to cancel would either be offered a refund or could shift their hikes to another time.

l Thousands of people have been displaced in the Namibian floods which started in February.

The country’s President Hifikepunye Pohamba declared a state of emergency after the flooding, which has also seen waters rise in the Zambezi and Okavango rivers.

Thousands of Namibians have been displaced and at least 62 people have died. The floods have destroyed livestock, crops and infrastructure.