Ice Swim Africa

Cold water veterans and other extreme swimmers are set for one of the coldest swims in Africa when they plunge into an icy Nuwe Dam in Fraserburg, near Sutherland in mid winter for the annual Ice Swim Africa.

Wearing only swimming costumes, swimming caps and goggles, the veterans who include world record holders Ram Barkai and Theodore Yach will attempt to swim a mile in the bone-chilling Nuwe Dam in remote Fraserburg, Northern Cape – one of the coldest regions in Africa. The dam temperature is expected to plummet to below 5C at the time. Fraserburg is a five hour drive from Cape Town and is one of the most authentic, well preserved and coldest towns in the Karoo.

The brainchild of Barkai who holds a Guinness World Record for having undertaken the world’s most southerly swim (a kilometre in an icy lake, 1C, in Antarctica in early 2008) the event is a first for Africa and part of Barkai’s goal to undertake an ice swim (5C or colder) on every continent.

In addition to the mile, are other newcomers to “ice” swimming, but all regular cold water swimmers, will attempt a shorter Endurance Swim of 600m in Nuwe Dam. Both swims are set in July usually the coldest time of the year in the area, with temperatures plummeting to minus 10 degrees Celsius or below some nights.

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