On Sunday, 9 August, my family and I decided to take a walk from Kloofendal and over the ridge to Strubens Valley.
Along the way we took a turn towards Helderkruin. This was quite a trek and all went well until we found ourselves in a park in Helderkruin (Dakota Street). The gates were locked (lockdown being one of the reasons) and we had no apparent way out. The four of us decided to follow the river.
Unfortunately, we stumbled across a property that had an alarm system with beams, which appeared to also cover part of the river. Being rather lost, we thought we would ask the owner of the property to ‘release’ us from our entrapped position. Unfortunately, with what appeared to be a shotgun in hand, the owner of the property was not too accommodating.We made our way back to the park, just in time to see one of the local residents exit his property.
He didn’t have keys but made attempts to contact someone. Just then a young lady (apologies but my memory is a little faded but I recall her name being Celeste) drove by. Seeing that we were locked within the park, she drove home, collected the key and returned to unlock the gate for us.
The positive response from those who assisted us is greatly appreciated, especially to Celeste who was inconvenienced but was most gracious in assisting us.
I would suggest to the owner of the property with the alarm system that he relook the positioning of his alarm beams and to even consider fencing and signage on his property boundary.
