KwaZulu-Natal -
Andrew Zaloumis, the chief executive of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal, was flown to hospital with his wife, Tracy, on Thursday after they were bowled over by a buffalo, while escorting journalists on a tour of the World Heritage Site.
It is understood that the park chief stood his ground in the path of the charging buffalo to ensure his wife and the rest of the group were able to reach safety.
Zaloumis, 53, was gored on the side of his abdomen by the buffalo’s horns, and his wife was struck on the leg as the buffalo charged past them.
Zaloumis struck his head as he fell to the ground.
Both were treated by paramedics at the scene.
Tracy was taken to hospital by helicopter, before it returned to collect Zaloumis and take him to Ngwelezane Hospital, near Empangeni, for further treatment.
A few hours after admission, the pair were discharged late on Thursday to recuperate at home after their wounds had been stitched.
Terri Castis, the wetland park’s commercial development director, who arrived at the scene soon after the attack, said Zaloumis was leading a small party of journalists from Gauteng along the coastal dunes on the Eastern Shores of Lake St Lucia when they came across the buffalo by surprise, near Mission Rocks.
“Andrew came around, past a tree, and saw the buffalo, and both startled each other.
They were about 10m apart, almost on top of each other.
It seemed the buffalo was trying to get away rather than trying to harm him deliberately,” she said.
Castis said Zaloumis told her the attack happened very quickly and that everyone scattered out of the way
The two photojournalists from Gauteng and fellow iSimangaliso colleague Lindy Duffield were not injured.
“Seeing that the buffalo wanted to charge, Andrew stood in the front to protect the rest of the party behind him and calm the buffalo.
He stood in-between and tried to encourage the buffalo to move in another direction,” she said.
After the attack the alarm was raised and park emergency services were immediately called to rescue the two.
A local doctor treated the couple while waiting for the helicopter to arrive.
Emergency Medical Rescue spokesman Robert McKenzie said they sent a helicopter because of the difficult access by land.
A senior KwaZulu-Natal park ranger said that judging from reports on the attack, Zaloumis and his wife had been “very lucky”.
“Very often an attack by a buffalo ends with fatal results … they will drive people down into the ground using their horns and keep shaking and squashing until there is no movement from the victim.
“In this case, it is just lucky the animal moved away quickly after hitting them, and did not press on with the attack.”
It was Zaloumis’s second recent brush with death.
Early last year he ended up in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Richards Bay after colliding with a fellow mountain biker while cycling on the main road between Mtubatuba and St Lucia village.
His fellow cyclist, Fortune Mfekayi, died when he was driven over by a passing car after falling off his bike.
Zaloumis survived but had to undergo surgery for a broken jaw and broken bones in his hand.
Zaloumis is the son of the late Dr Nolly Zaloumis, the well-known Durban conservationist and dentist who helped to spearhead the campaign to prevent the Eastern Shores of St Lucia being dune-mined by Richards Bay Minerals.
The couple’s children, Eman, 15, and Georgina, 17, who both attend boarding schools, have been told about the attack on their parents.
The Mercury