{"id":14040,"date":"2026-01-09T21:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T21:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/14040\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T21:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T21:38:19","slug":"sanparks-warns-base-jumping-illegal-at-table-mountain-after-american-plunges-to-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/14040\/","title":{"rendered":"SANParks warns BASE jumping illegal at Table Mountain after American plunges to death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t\tA substantial search and recovery operation was launched.\n\t<\/p>\n<p>SANParks has warned that BASE jumping is an illegal, unregulated activity and is strictly prohibited within Table Mountain National Park.<\/p>\n<p>This comes after American BASE jumper Brendan Weinstein, an experienced BASE jumper with a large following in the US, died after crashing in Platteklip Gorge in the Western Cape on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Search and recovery<\/p>\n<p>A substantial search and recovery operation was launched, involving numerous ground teams and aerial resources to search for and recover Weinstein\u2019s body.<\/p>\n<p>Western Cape Wilderness Search and Rescue (WSAR) said the recovery was carried out with care and sensitivity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe deceased was flown from the mountain to a nearby landing zone and handed over to the South African Police Service (SAPS).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur thoughts are with the family, friends and loved ones of the deceased during this profoundly difficult time,\u201d WSAR said.<\/p>\n<p>ALSO READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizen.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/crime\/suspected-murderers-dead-shootout-police-inanda-kzn\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Suspected murderers dead in shootout with police in Inanda, KZN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Warning<\/p>\n<p>SANPark spokesperson JP Louw warned that BASE jumping is strictly prohibited within Table Mountain National Park.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe therefore appeal to all visitors to refrain from undertaking such activities. The park is a protected area, under the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (Act 57 of 2003), and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where activities that pose risks to human life and the environment are not permitted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe request members of the public to report any illegal activities,\u201d Louw said.<\/p>\n<p>What is BASE jumping?<\/p>\n<p>According to WSAR, BASE jumping is an extreme sport in which participants jump from fixed objects such as buildings, antennas, spans (bridges), or earth (cliffs), while using a parachute to slow their descent.<\/p>\n<p>Wingsuit BASE jumping adds an additional layer of complexity: a specialised suit with fabric stretched between the arms and legs allows the jumper to glide horizontally and control their descent, like flying, before deploying a parachute.<\/p>\n<p>While wingsuits enable longer flight and increased manoeuvrability, they also increase the risks involved.<\/p>\n<p>ALSO READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizen.co.za\/travel\/iconic-table-mountain-goes-green\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Iconic Table Mountain goes green<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A substantial search and recovery operation was launched. SANParks has warned that BASE jumping is an illegal, unregulated&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[5733,1179,2284,9452,131,6101,3537],"class_list":{"0":"post-14040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-emergency-services","9":"tag-police","10":"tag-rescue","11":"tag-sanparks","12":"tag-south-africa","13":"tag-table-mountain","14":"tag-western-cape"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}