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Man critical after brutal buffalo attack

Date: 21 November 2014 By: Andries van Zyl

A 66-year-old tourist’s life is still hanging in the balance after being attacked by a wounded buffalo at the Pafuri River Camp on Friday, 14 November.

The attack occurred at around 06:30, a mere 50 metres away from the campsite, while two men were out bird-watching. The 66-year-old man was critically injured when a wounded buffalo attacked from the thickets without any provocation. He suffered severe abdominal and chest injuries, after the buffalo had gored him with its horns.

A fellow camper, who heard the commotion and screams of agony, rushed to assist and fired two shots with his pistol into the buffalo. The attacking buffalo, accompanied by a second smaller buffalo, then broke off its attack and disappeared into the bushes.

The seriously injured man was treated on site by the camp’s manager, Mr Koos Theunissen, and trained first aider Mr Sam Baloyi, before he was rushed by bakkie to the Exxaro Tshikondeni Mine Clinic. This all happened within an hour of the attack.

At Tshikondeni, the man’s condition was stabilized by the attending clinic doctor, Dr Barbara Cawood. His condition was so serious that it was feared that he would die if not immediately airlifted to hospital. After a couple of frantic phone calls, an airlift was done by the EMS (Polokwane) helicopter and the man was admitted to the Polokwane Provincial Hospital at around 13:00 the same day. Also later the same day, Environmental Affairs officials managed to finally bring down the wounded buffalo.

Bordering the Kruger National Park near its Pafuri Gate, the attack at the camp came as a huge shock to the owners of the camp. “In the 20-year history of the camp, this is the first attack ever of this nature,” said Mr Vaughan van Niekerk, co-owner and spokesperson for Pafuri River Camp, on Tuesday.

Van Niekerk stated that the attack could have been avoided if they had been informed that there was a wounded buffalo in the camp area. He said that they were able to determine that the buffalo was wounded during a botched hunting trip in the Madimbo Corridor some 40 kilometres away from their campsite about three weeks prior to the attack. The buffalo was then, according to Van Niekerk, pursued by officials from the Department of Environmental Affairs in an effort to put it down. The buffalo was chased onto the property of Pafuri River Camp the day before the attack but, said Van Niekerk, neither they nor the surrounding villagers had been alerted to this fact. “It was not the client’s fault. He had every right to be there and no reason to be scared. It was an unfortunate incident caused by non-communication to us and the villagers that there was a dangerous, wounded buffalo near the camp,” Van Niekerk said.

Amidst the trauma and drama of the attack, Van Niekerk said they had great regard and gratitude towards all the people who had assisted the injured man during and after the attack. Some of them who received special mention were their camp manager, Mr Theunissen, first aider Mr Baloyi, Dr Cawood from Tshikondeni, co-owner of the camp Mr Sandy McDonald (who assisted in organising the airlift) and Mr David Dennison (EMS). “Our medical box at the camp was ready, we had a trained first aider on site and had all emergency numbers available. All the stakeholders were there and acted,” said Van Niekerk.

The Zoutpansberger tried to confirm this week whether or not officials from Environmental Affairs were indeed the ones who had chased the buffalo onto the camp property, and whether or not they had failed to inform the camp owners and surrounding villages of the impending danger. A summary of the events and claims was sent through to the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism’s liaison officer, Mr Burckles Napo. By the time of our going to press, a response was still being awaited.

In the meantime, the severely injured man’s condition has remained unchanged. He was still connected to a respirator and kept heavily sedated in the intensive care unit of the Polokwane Provincial Hospital. His family indicated that they were extremely satisfied with the treatment he was receiving from the hospital staff. 

 
 
 

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

 
 

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