Jolandi wanted to capture the perfect birthday photo. Moments later, she was dead.

Jolandi le Roux had just turned 31-years-old.

The newlywed, who had married her husband Andrew in September last year, wanted to capture the moment with the perfect photo.

So the couple climbed to a high picnic spot called Lookout Point in Cape Town, South Africa.

Once there, Jolandi stood on the edge of the cliff and jumped up so it would look like she was leaping over the sun, as Andrew tried to capture the shot.

However, she lost her footing and fell, and her body landed in a dead tree at the bottom of a gully.

Her 33-year-old husband somehow managed to scramble 100 metres down the perilous 65-degree mountainside. According to The Sun, Andrew was able to get within nine metres of his wife’s body but wasn’t able to get any closer.

He clung to the side of the cliff and waited for rescuers to arrive.

When rescuers arrived on scene, it took them three hours to reach Jolandi. It then took the rescue team a further three hours in the dark and rainy conditions to move Jolandi’s body back up to the summit.

The couple married on the beach below the cliff in September last year. An outdoorsy couple, they often hiked and cycled around the nearby area.

It’s believed the couple may have ignored the warning signs, telling people to stay off the loose rocks and slippery gravel of the sloping cliff edge.

A sign there reads: “Caution! Strong winds and steep cliffs. Please stay behind the fence at all times”.

It’s believed Jolandi died during the fall, as she would have endured multiple head and body fractures as she plummeted down the cliff.

Her Facebook page has been flooded with tributes from family and friends, who called the young newlywed a “beautiful person” who was “bubbly and lived life to the full”.