Dramatic cattle rescue on the icy slopes after big snowfall in South Africa

8 June 2024
By Staff Writer

SHARE TO

The community around the area of Wartrail near Barkly East in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa banded together on Friday to rescue fifty one heifers that were trapped on the icy slopes of the mountain after a major snowstorm earlier in the week.

Snow Report South Africa had forecast up to 30cm of accumulated snow for the highest peaks in the area, which receives regular snowfalls every year and is near to Tiffindell – South Africa's only ski resort (currently closed).

Local farmer Chris Isted headed up a rescue party of around thirty staff and local community members, as well as four dogs in an attempt to save fifty one animals that were trapped high up on the slopes of Balloch Peak.

Conditions were extremely dangerous with a 400 meter drop down the cliff as they cut a path through the deep snow to get to the herd in freezing temperatures. The red dots in the photos show the location of the main herd.

Chris is also the owner of the Snowvalley Communications, a local internet service provider in the region, and is used to dealing with the harsh winter conditions in the area as his team often have to access remote towers after heavy snowfalls.

The group of courageous rescuers were all tied together with a climbing rope at times in case anybody slipped. According to Chris, the dogs (collies) were invaluable in getting to the animals since the clouds meant they couldn't see exactly where they were.

The rescue effort started early on Friday morning and at around 3pm in the afternoon the group reached the first of the stranded animals.

The complications were by no means over as they still had to get the reluctant heifers to follow the route out, but thankfully the collies helped with this task and after a few small groups of animals headed up the steep track in the snow the rest followed them up.

Chris stressed to Snow Report South Africa how grateful he was that so many people put their own lives at risk to help to rescue his cattle.

The photos below show how harsh the conditions were, and how far up the mountain the animals were trapped but the videos show just how amazing the rescue attempt was. We are adding more photos shortly.

The snow forecast related to this story is available HERE.

Please be sure to send photos and videos to us via whatsapp and also tell us where and when they were taken.

See below for a link to our whatsapp channel but since the link does not work in the instagram app you will need to send us a whatsapp message and we'll send you a link.

Follow our channels

Standard users are welcome to use the standard sharing buttons on this page to share our content. It is NOT acceptable to download or screen grab for reposting.
Other media and channels need to send us a request in order to embed or use of our forecasts, maps, as well as images and video from our users that we post (before doing so).

SHARE TO