After two days of reporting on heavy rainfall in Nelson Mandela Bay, photographer Werner Hills and reporter Geoff Hookins headed out to cover Thursday’s floods.
They had heard that the Swartkops River flowing under the Cuyler Bridge in Kariega had swollen immensely, so after covering the wrecked railway lines next to Sidon Street and an Audi A4 stuck in a huge puddle on the N2, they headed towards Kariega.
“I was not ready for the sheer volume of water flowing under the Cuyler Bridge,” Hookins said.
“Werner wanted to photograph it from the other side of the bridge, and for the first time this week I was actually nervous.
“The speed of the water moving from right to left underneath us made it even worse. It felt like the bridge was moving.
“This bridge broke in the 2024 floods, and I knew it could collapse underneath us.
“We crossed safely, parked and walked towards the bridge.”
It was there that they spotted a tiny brown figure thrashing around in the water.
“It managed to get out of the water, shivering and cold and completely soaked, and it climbed into a broken streetlight power box.
“I got closer and closer to it. I didn’t want to scare it back into the water. But as I motioned forwards, this little guy took a small step towards me.
“I put my hand out towards it, and it moved closer.
“And then Hills said ‘Pick it up!’
“I’ve never picked a buck up before.
“I moved towards it even closer and it took another step towards me.
“I picked it up like I would carry a dog and at first it screamed like a baby goat.
“But then it started to cuddle into me, shivering.
“It wasn’t injured, just cold and scared.”
Hills then suggested taking it to the SPCA, but having covered their story for months, both realised they were under massive pressure as it was.
“He just needed to be a safe distance away from the flood and he would be safe.
“So I walked towards a bushy area far away from the river and put it down.
“It stood there for a second, walked a few steps, and without looking back at us it ducked under a bush and almost burrowed itself into a shelter.
“It looked safe, and dry, and we waited to see if it was OK. It stopped shivering.
“So we bid him farewell and headed off to Missionvale to visit some heavily flooded homes.
“I sent a picture of it to a local game ranger and he confirmed that it was a baby Grysbok.”
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