Night of terror: Conservationist spends 20 hours in middle of flooded Vaal river

A conservationist from Randburg spent nearly 20 hours hanging onto a tree in the middle of the Vaal River after his kayak collided with a tree earlier this week.

CEO of Wild Serve, Dirk Engelbrecht and a team of professional kayakers and experts rescued 50 eggs and baby birds from an island in the Vaal Dam on Monday.

“The eggs were transported to a facility in Krugersdorp and incubated. Some eggs have started to hatch,” Engelbrecht said.

However, when the team headed back on Monday, Engelbrecht and his two colleagues decided to return to the dam upstream to look for more birds nests.

While his two colleagues from the Owl Rescue Centre took photos, Engelbrecht decided to continue ahead.

“I was about three minutes ahead of them when my kayak was flipped by a rapid. I flipped it over, but the problem was by the time I got it upright, I was pulled into the rapid,” he said.

Engelbrecht collided with a tree in front of the island and bruised his ribs in the process.

“I went underneath the kayak and then I tried to grip branches to keep me out the other rapids. I only caught on to a tree 15m further.”

ALSO READ: PICS: Opening of Vaal Dam sluices wreaking havoc downstream

He had to move from branches because the first branch was not strong enough to hold him.

“I landed on a fork and I stood on it for 19 and a half hours,” he said.

“I am standing on a tree and 400m in every direction is water,” Engelbrecht added. Engelbrecht balanced with one foot on a 15cm by 15cm diameter branch, less than a metre above water.

“For 19 and a half hours I watched water moving at what looked like a 100 and something kilometres per hour. It was just screaming past nonstop,” he said.

Engelbrecht described that everything from how to survive to dying went through his mind at different times.

He said he was worried about his colleagues, the weather and whether more sluices would be opened making the water level rise.

“I couldn’t sleep, if I did I would fall into the rapids. If you sleep you are dead,” he said.

He said it felt impossible to stay awake after standing for about six hours.

“The last six hours I had to talk to keep myself awake.

“I noticed talking kept me awake. It started by talking out loud about what went on in my head,” he said.

Engelbrecht said it helped to keep himself uncomfortable in order to stay awake.

“I also didn’t drink water for as long as I could and also not urinate to keep my body heat,” he explained.

Engelbrecht said at times he thought he was going to die.

“A comfort was thinking about what you would be doing when you die and how you would die.

“Strangely this was not the scariest way to die. I would rather die doing my work,” he said.

“When the dark set in, the worry crept in,” he said.

He said when a thunderstorm approached, he feared the worse.

“I’m in a tree in the water, it was a double whammy,” he said.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Sluice gate opened as Vaal Dam breaches 100%

Engelbrecht said at sunrise he was still talking to himself because he kept dosing off.

“By this time my mouth was dry and I was getting thirsty and you just say what you see: tree, leaf …,” he said.

Suddenly he heard a sound which was not water and saw two red helmets of National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) rescuers coming.

“That’s when I knew, it’s a rescue, it was over,” he said.