劫数 · 大难重生
—— 2019年 南非开普敦狮头山

2019年11月21日，
——抹不去忘不掉的一天！
与家人徒步南非开普敦狮头山，
高差450米，一个半小时登顶。

正下山——才走一小段！
刹那间——
碰！碰！碰！
没了……没了……

惊心动魄，身子翻落浅崖，
1.5米，1.5米，3米！

天，在——
翻滚……翻滚……翻滚……
在乱石岗，寸草不生！
停……停……停！
还好，没落悬崖！

我，没停地嘶喊——
意识死命挥动手脚，
不是疼，是惊吓！
哪里伤了？不知道……
会致命吗？会瘫痪吗？

一对年轻攀岩手，
迅速到了身边。
大女儿是医生，却下不了峭壁；
男攀岩手助她下来，
守在身边护理。

右手手腕，成了“L”型，
幸好，没穿过肉。
女儿细查眼、颈、胸、呼吸，
手脚、指尖血液畅通，
祈望，没有重伤。

伤情不明，不宜移动。
启动救援队，
两小时仅来了两人；
与直升机交涉，
我也听得出：不会来的。

再启动志愿救援队，
这回来了专业攀岩手，男女十人，
雷厉风行——
锚钩锤进岩壁，滑轮组随之系紧，
我被稳稳固定在担架上，缓缓吊起。

八人抬担架，其他人轮替，
下山路崎岖，到一处笔直陡壁；
锚钩滑轮重新固定。
事发五个半小时后，
终于抵达上山道的停车场。

救护车早在等候，半小时送抵
克里斯蒂安·巴纳德私立医院。
两根肋骨微裂，左腕微裂，
右腕碎裂，须动手术植钛板；
未伤及头、颈、脊柱与双足，实属万幸。

两日后返新加坡，即刻手术。

安排手术、康复护理，
全由妻子一手包办，照料入微。
回诊所拆石膏、拆缝线，
小学、中学老同学轮番护送。
此番上苍庇佑，大难重生。

事后，与大女儿、小女儿
分别喝咖啡，细细回望当时。
那一刹那，她们都以为——我走了……

如今，我却坐在她们对面，捧着杯，
听见自己的呼吸。
人生短暂无常，
活着，从不是理所当然；
每一天都是上苍的恩典，静心感恩。

c.h.e.f andy

注：

2019年与妻子、大女儿、小女儿4人到南非萨比沙地保护区狩猎旅行, 接着车旅南非葡萄酒庄园到开普敦，在狮头山发生坠崖事故。

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published on 25.5.2025

see my English translation 👇🏻

劫数 · 大难重生 Disaster · Surviving the Ordeal
— 2019, Lion’s Head, Cape Town, South Africa

November 21, 2019 —
A day I can never forget.
Hiking Lion’s Head with family, in Cape Town,
450 meters elevation gain, 1.5hours to the summit.

Descending—just a short way down,
and suddenly—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gone… gone…

Heart-stopping—my body tumbled off a shallow cliff,
1.5 meters, 1.5 meters, 3 meters!

The sky—
rolling… rolling… rolling…
on a rocky slope, barren, almost without a blade of grass.
Stop… stop… stop!
Thank God—just stop short of a steep cliff!

I kept screaming—
my mind forcing arms and legs to move.
Not from pain, but from terror.
Where was I hurt? I didn’t know…
Would I die? Be paralyzed?

A pair of young rock climbers
rushed to my side.
My eldest daughter, a doctor, couldn’t get down the cliff to me—
the male climber helped her down to my side,
and she stayed close, administering care.

My right wrist bent like an “L”,
thankfully—not an open fracture.
She checked my eyes, neck, chest, breathing,
legs and hands, and fingertips—for blood flow.
We prayed together: no critical injury.

Too risky to move me with unclear injuries.
The official rescue team was called—
two hours later, only two “rescuers” arrived.
They radioed the helicopter.
Even I could tell: it wasn’t coming.

They summoned a volunteer rescue team.
This time, ten professional rock climbers arrived—men and women,
swift and decisive.
Steel anchors driven into rock, pulleys rigged—
I was strapped to a stretcher and slowly lifted.

Eight carried me, others rotated in.
The trail was rugged; a sheer cliff ahead.
Anchors and pulleys had to be secured at the new location.
Five and a half hours after the fall,
we finally reached the trailhead parking lot.

An ambulance was waiting—
in thirty minutes I arrived at Christiaan Barnard Private Hospital.
Two ribs, and left wrist, with mild cracks,
a shattered right wrist requiring surgery and titanium implants.
No injury to the head, neck, spinal cord, or legs — incredibly lucky.

2 days later, I was flown back to Singapore for emergency surgery.

Surgery and recovery—
my wife arranged it all, cared for every detail.
Back to the clinic to remove the cast and stitches,
old friends from primary and secondary school took turns fetching me.
Heaven had spared me—I had survived disaster.

Later, I sat down with each daughter
over coffee, reliving it all.
Witnessing the fall, they both had thought then I was gone…

But there I was, across the table,
hands wrapped around a coffee cup,
listening to my own breath.
Life is fragile. Life is fleeting.
To be alive is never a given—
every day is a grace from Heaven, received with a quiet heart, and deep gratitude.

P.S.

In 2019, my wife, eldest daughter, youngest daughter, and I went on a safari at Sabi Sands in South Africa, then traveled by car through South African winery estates to Cape Town, where the cliff-fall accident at Lion’s Head occurred.