"I wasn't suspicious or anything, although one of them had become really friendly when I greeted.

"Now that I'm thinking about it there was a tsotsi element to the guys," he said.

Travers said as he went up the trail to a higher point his dog became restless as if it was sensing that something was amiss.

Shortly afterwards, the men appeared about 6 metres from him.

"One had a knife and a rock and was aiming for the dog while the other two, also carrying knives, were coming for me. I pulled out my gun and fired six shots in the air.

"It's a small handgun but makes a hell of a lot of noise.

"I've never seen three people vanish that fast," said Travers.

He said the incident happened about 3km from the car park in Cecilia Forest.

"It's a zig-zag path. I was on the left side of the park walking to the right-hand side."

Travers said although he knew the track well he hadn't been up that track in the past six months. "I'm not upset or terrified and I will go back to walk," he said.

Travers said he didn't report the incident to the police "because there was no way they would have caught them".

TMNP said they were not aware of the incident and their patrol personnel hadn't reported such an incident.

This year, the park has been beset by a string of muggings, resulting in authorities beefing up security amid a huge public outcry.

• This article was originally published on page 5 of Cape Argus on October 19, 2007