After a Border Collie named Lulu took a tumble off a cliff, she was stranded with little way for her humans to reach her. Luckily, help was not far away, thanks to the NSRI, and Lulu’s cliffhanger quickly became a happy ending!
Herolds Bay, South Africa (05 December 2024) — It was a stressful Tuesday for Lulu the Border Collie.
There she was, stranded below a cliff with around 50 to 70 metres down to the water’s edge, facing a shoreline of rocks. Only a few moments before, she’d been giddily playing with birds without a care in the world. Then the tumble happened.
While Lulu sat stranded, the NSRI Wildnerness crew received the call alerting them to her plight. It was from a local lady who reported her brother to be on the coastal trail West between Herolds Bay and Voelklip. They urgently needed help rescuing Lulu from the difficult terrain that they couldn’t reach themselves. As night drew closer and closer, so did their stress.
The NSRI quickly rallied a team of helpers. Hannes Snyman, 3 Herolds Bay NSRI lifeguards, Alex, Michael and Aden Meyer, as well as their friend Reuben van der Berg, all arrived on the scene to get Lulu home.
Luckily for the rescuers, the Border Collie was still visible from the top of the cliff. Now, that the ‘where’ had been answered, the ‘how’ to retrieve her part became all important.
Bravely, the lifeguards and their friend, decided that the only way out was through. As such, they negotiated very steep cliffs to reach her on the waters’ edge rocks (she had thankfully not fallen into the water). In the wings (offshore behind the breakers), the NSRI JetRib Vee’s Rescuer stood on standby.
In the nick of time, the lifeguard squad managed to make it to Lulu. She was shaken and bruised, but otherwise alright and ready to turn her cliffhanger into a happy ending.
“In difficult and steep terrain, increasing in urgency to escape the fading light, they got the dog safely up the cliff and reunited the dog with the owner and accompanied them back to Herolds Bay,” NSRI Wilderness duty controller, Garth Dominy shared of the successful rescue.
A local named Kobus Groenewald later updated the team to share that Lulu was in good spirits and recovering. After seeing the vet the next morning, she was confirmed to be uninjured and in good health!
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