Nelspruit - Two rhinos attacked hikers on a wilderness trail in the Kruger National Park on Thursday, injuring a tourist and a guide.
According to park spokesperson Raymond Travers, a rhinoceros charged and lifted up guide Elias Chauke with its horn before he was able to shoot at it.
His colleague, Dumisani Zwane, hit the rhino as it passed him, making it drop Chauke.
Meanwhile another rhino charged at the group of five tourists, injuring one man, a Mr Botha from Vereeniging, in the buttocks and the back.
A doctor based at Skukuza flew to the scene, in the eastern part of the reserve, and treated the two injured men.
They were transferred to Nelspruit's Medi-Clinic where general manager Sarel van der Walt described their condition as being in a state of shock but stable.
"No emergency operations were needed," he said.
Travers said the party had not realised that the rhinos had been trapped by the banks around a bend in a river and had tried to charge their way out.
One of the tourists was an American on his first visit to South Africa, said Travers. - Sapa