“Love your children unconditionally and accept them unconditionally.”

These were the words of grieving mother, Vanessa Maree, after she lost her son at the notorious cliffs at Voëlklip near Herold’s Bay this week.

The Maree family was plunged into mourning after Conrad Maree (33) plummeted to his death off a cliff from the gravel road leading to Voëlklip on Tuesday 8 February.

Maree, a father of two young girls aged 7 and 10, moved from Krugersdorp to George in 2021.

“Conrad always had a huge love for the ocean and fishing. He was an outdoorsy person with a passion for nature. He grew up on a smallholding and was a little terrorist as a child. You know, one of those boys who would keep a frog in his pocket.

“He always laughed with his mouth wide open and we could stand outside on the porch in the evenings and talk for hours. His death is a massive shock and a huge loss to our family,” said his mother.

Southern Cape police spokesperson, Captain Malcolm Pojie, said the alarm was raised after Maree did not arrive for work on Tuesday.

The tracking system in the bakkie he was driving, led the search party to the scene of the accident, where the vehicle and Maree’s body were found at the bottom of a cliff.

No foul play is suspected and police have opened and inquest docket for further investigation.

The exact time of the incident could not be confirmed, but emergency services were called to respond at approximately 08:45. Maree’s body was retrieved shortly afterwards and preparations were made to recover the vehicle from the rocks below.

This is the fifth vehicle that has gone down the cliffs on this road since Heidi Scheepers and her two children went over the edge at Hansie se Bank in October 2019.