Vernon Kruger is in a wine barrel perched on an eight-storey-high pine pole in Dullstroom, in Mpumalanga. He wants to set a new world record. Henry O Photography Vernon Kruger is in a wine barrel perched on an eight-storey-high pine pole in Dullstroom, in Mpumalanga. He wants to set a new world record. Henry O Photography
Johannesburg - On November 14, Vernon Kruger leapt from the skid of a helicopter into his new home - a wine barrel perched on an eight-storey-high pine pole.
The 500-litre wine barrel, which stands in the middle of Dullstroom, in Mpumalanga, will be Kruger’s home for at least 67 days and 14 minutes.
That is if all goes according to plan. If he stays that long in the barrel, he will have set a new world record.
But Kruger is facing a tough competitor, who had the advantage of youth. That competitor is his younger self who set the original record of 67 days and 14 minutes, 22 years ago.
Kruger, who is now aged 52, was already fighting the aches and pains of middle age, six days into his record attempt.
“The last time, I don’t remember having had so much pain in my shoulders and numbness in my fingers. I think it’s because of the awkward position that I’m in during the night. You have pinched nerves and things like that, and they affect you more when you’re older,” he said, speaking from a cellphone.
There are other challenges, too.
The night before, a storm rolled in with heavy lightning. Kruger knows he is sitting on a giant lightning conductor, in one the highest lightning strike regions in the world.
“I think the biggest worry is lightning and I think it’s going to get worse,” he says.
But keeping Kruger up there in his barrel is the village of Dullstroom itself.
“Without the village it wouldn’t be possible,” says Annette van Zyl, one of the co-ordinators, and the owner of a local butchery.
“The whole town is looking after him, making sure he has food and water and everything. So without Dullstroom, he wouldn’t be up there.”
Restaurants are taking it in turns to provide meals. Local farmer Ian Jones provided a tent at the base of the pole, where Kruger’s mother Iona sits, handling the logistics.
Kruger’s connection to the world below is his mother and a pulley system and bucket.
Three tugs on the rope and Vernon knows he has to pull the bucket up.
“I told him, if you throw something at me from up there, I am going to get in my car and leave. They can then go later and collect the skeleton,” laughs Iona.
When it is time to sleep, a duvet is sent up. It is then returned in the morning.
Kruger’s toilet is a black pipe that snakes its way down the length of the pole into a nearby septic tank.
“Considering the altitude of Dullstroom and the height of the pole, this is probably currently the longest long drop in the world,” deadpans Iona.
The reason why Kruger is in the barrel has to do with some correspondence he received from the Guinness Book of World Records.
They informed him that no one had broken his record in the last 22 years, and because of this it would fall away.
That is, unless he decided to try and break his own record.
Over the last two decades there had been challenges. The famed illusionist David Blaine made an attempt in 2003 while dangling over the River Thames in London.
It was enough of a dare for Kruger and it came at a time when he was facing some personal problems. He explained that he is going through a separation with his wife.
“I’m just between things at the moment, so I thought it’s a good time to maybe just break away and do something like this.”
Kruger’s goal is not only to break his own world record, but also raise funds for a children’s home in the nearby town of Belfast, and for Epilepsy SA in Dullstroom.
Initially the plan was to hold the event in Durban, but this fell away, so Kruger decided he would break the record in the town where he initially set it.
Back then Kruger was living in Dullstroom, and he had come up with the idea of the record while on holiday in the Maldives.
There he had climbed a coconut tree and was throwing coconuts down for the tourists. Someone suggested to Kruger that because he had been up there so long, he should set a record. It turned into a dare.
“So, I said watch me, and then I applied for the record and they said no there’s a gentleman from Indonesia that’s been up a tree for, I think 27 years,” explains Kruger.
“Then Guinness said why don’t you attempt, the pole sitting, it is similar and the recording was 54 days.”
Back then there was no helicopter and Kruger had to climb up the pole. There were even a couple of hairy moments during the two-odd months he was up there.
One night, according to Iona, two men after a night of drinking arrived with a chainsaw and threatened to chop the pole down. The police had to be called. Now there is security.
Over the next couple of days and weeks, Kruger will continue to be relying heavily on the village folk of Dullstroom as he attempts to slip into a routine.
Already every morning a bunch of locals gather below the barrel and go through a couple of exercise routines. Kruger joins in.
Just the day before, children from the local Montessori school brought Kruger some gifts - cards and cookies, which were hoisted up in the bucket.
There is, however, one wish Kruger has, and that is his children will be able to make it up from Plettenberg Bay and see him as he attempts the record. He is missing them terribly, he says.
But besides missing his children and the aches and pains, Kruger believes he has what it takes to beat that 29-year-old Kruger of yesteryear.
“Usually, when I set my mind to something, I just do it and follow through. Unless the pole falls over or something, I’m pretty sure I’ll do it.”