Plane Down in Africa: Search Party Lost

Real Survival Stories

NOISER

Society & Culture, Documentary, Sports, Wilderness, History

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Deep in rural South Africa, it’s a tough life for a farmer. John Moor has spent years tackling thieves who pilfer his livestock. One day he takes a bold step - chartering a plane to search for some missing cattle in the Drakensberg Mountains. He hopes it’ll give him the upper hand… but everything comes crashing down. John and his companion will find themselves stranded and injured somewhere in the huge range. The mission must switch from recovery to rescue… A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Duncan Barrett | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design & audio editing by Jacob Booth, Liam Cameron, Miri Latham, Matt Peaty | Assembly editing by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cian Ryan-Morgan For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's April 5, 2002, in the mighty Dracensburg mountain range in South Africa's Natal
0:09.6	province.
0:12.6	It's a sprawling escarpment, 2,000 meters above sea level, a network of giant jutting rock formations
0:20.6	surrounding a patchwork of lush green valleys.
0:25.0	The area takes its name from the Dutch Dracensbergen, literally dragon mountains.
0:32.5	And there is something magical, even sublime about the place.
0:43.3	But on this particular Friday morning, 35-year-old farmer John Moore is in no mood to appreciate the view.
0:48.3	He is dragging his friend, Mark Freeman, along the rough ground of one of the valleys.
0:57.0	John is sweating, panting, as he heaves Mark's limp frame, glancing back only occasionally
1:04.0	to see how much distance he has put between them and the dangerous spot they were just in.
1:10.0	They're still not safe.
1:11.6	There is an accurate scent of smoke in the air.
1:14.6	Mark is conscious, but barely.
1:18.6	His face is a bloodied mess, caused by the injuries he sustained just moments ago.
1:25.6	John himself has a shooting pain in his neck, but he pushes on, hauling his friend towards a stony outcrop.
1:32.7	There is a large, sloping rock here, a poor excuse for a hospital bed, but it'll have to do.
1:40.1	As he sets his friend down, John's eye is caught by something nearby.
1:46.6	He and Mark are not alone.
1:52.5	Coiled up on the rock, just feet away from them, is an African puff add-up, a meter long
1:58.0	and as fat as John's bicep.
2:00.6	As a farmer, John knows a dangerous snake when he sees one,
2:03.6	and the puff adder is one of the deadliest.
	...

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