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Two women killed by giraffe in head-on collision
By Gavin du Venage, News.Com.AU
October 13, 2004
Giraffes... not to be messed with
NOBODY expects to be terminated by a giraffe.
Tourists in South Africa have been eaten by lions, leopards and crocodiles, trampled by elephants and buffalo, gored by rhinos and crushed by hippos.
This happens so often that wildlife officials sometimes refer to local reserves as Jurassic Park.
But there was a first in the "when animals attack" genre last week when two women on a slow drive in the north-west corner of the Kruger National Park, a wilderness as large as Belgium, fell victim to a giraffe.
"It was a freak accident - it's the talk of the industry," said Tammy McLintock, owner of the Akeru safari lodge where the women were staying.
The two companions were watching lions stalking when they heard a stampede behind them. A lioness was chasing three giraffes.
The women turned on the headlights but one of the giraffes, weighing about 500kg, ran head-on into the vehicle. Both women were severely injured and had to be airlifted by helicopter to hospital, where they both died.
Yet the only thing unusual about the incident was that it involved a creature that does not usually injure humans.
There are at least 9000 private game ranches in South Africa, covering 50 million hectares, and the competition for tourist dollars is fierce.
With the pressure on to provide tourists with up-close encounters with African game, humans are often coming off second best when a wild creature acts, well, wild.
A day before the giraffe accident, a man in the northern Hluhluwe section of the Umfolozi game park in KwaZulu-Natal was badly gored by a black rhino.
"We are going from eco-tourism to adventure tourism with animals, and this is a very dangerous arena," said Wouter van Hoven of the Centre for Wildlife at the University of Pretoria.
"There are more and more farmers converting from cattle ranching to safari operations and the pressure is on to provide an exciting experience."
By Gavin du Venage, News.Com.AU
October 13, 2004
Giraffes... not to be messed with
NOBODY expects to be terminated by a giraffe.
Tourists in South Africa have been eaten by lions, leopards and crocodiles, trampled by elephants and buffalo, gored by rhinos and crushed by hippos.
This happens so often that wildlife officials sometimes refer to local reserves as Jurassic Park.
But there was a first in the "when animals attack" genre last week when two women on a slow drive in the north-west corner of the Kruger National Park, a wilderness as large as Belgium, fell victim to a giraffe.
"It was a freak accident - it's the talk of the industry," said Tammy McLintock, owner of the Akeru safari lodge where the women were staying.
The two companions were watching lions stalking when they heard a stampede behind them. A lioness was chasing three giraffes.
The women turned on the headlights but one of the giraffes, weighing about 500kg, ran head-on into the vehicle. Both women were severely injured and had to be airlifted by helicopter to hospital, where they both died.
Yet the only thing unusual about the incident was that it involved a creature that does not usually injure humans.
There are at least 9000 private game ranches in South Africa, covering 50 million hectares, and the competition for tourist dollars is fierce.
With the pressure on to provide tourists with up-close encounters with African game, humans are often coming off second best when a wild creature acts, well, wild.
A day before the giraffe accident, a man in the northern Hluhluwe section of the Umfolozi game park in KwaZulu-Natal was badly gored by a black rhino.
"We are going from eco-tourism to adventure tourism with animals, and this is a very dangerous arena," said Wouter van Hoven of the Centre for Wildlife at the University of Pretoria.
"There are more and more farmers converting from cattle ranching to safari operations and the pressure is on to provide an exciting experience."
