In Thursdays Daily Telegraph a report that Sanbona is being sued for £ 590,000 after an accident in a safari vehicle. Click on the link below for the full details. Scary stuff.
http://http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/6599711/British-couples-come-face-to-face-with-lions-after-accident-on-safari.html
I was actually there a month before this accident and I am almost positive it was the same guide Natasha that drove recklessly while chasing a cheeta and we went over a huge bump which resulted in the whole back row (where i was sitting) being lodged up and forward. I bashed my hap against the railing of the first row and landed on a friend in the second row. The result was a very bruised and painful hip for the rest of my South African vacation. I don't even think she appologized!
That's awful. We have experienced safaris in many countries in Africa & have always felt safe from any kind of danger, from either the indigenous animals or our drivers & guides.
I posted this on Tripadvisor as a warning; obviously it was a good decision. I wonder if the owners of Sambona care to comment!
I tried the link but it does not work. i would be very interested to find out exactly what happened.
Mark
Cut and paste the link into your browser but leave out the first http://
Alternatively use the following link shortened using TinyURL :
Thanks VDC. I hadn't realised that I had made a horlicks of my cutting & pasting.
Interesting article though!
I cant see Sanbona replying as they are in the middle of a lawsuit, so the lawyers would advise against any reply at all.
Good point. I always try to avoid lawyers so I'm not up tp scratch on that sort of thing.
Quote: "Someone would have had to have told my daughter that her parents had been eaten by a lion."
What a bedtime story this one would have been:
Once upon a time there was a group of kind-hearted middleclass explorers taking an innocent journey through Darkest Africa, the lands of the Big Bad Lions, one of them was your mother, well one day …………………
Quote: "The lions were about a metre and a half from us, and one went off with my boot - we were lucky it wasn't even worse.”
Yes it would have been much worse especially if your foot was still inside the boot.
Quote: “One of the group, Susan Shearman, described how some of them took off their shoes and threw at the animals in an attempt to distract them as they surrounded their wrecked vehicle”.
No wonder the lions were annoyed, I’m no lawyer (not even a barrack room one) but surely someone acting on behalf of the lions would state that this was clear case of provocation? Think about it, a Pride of Lions innocently licking their paws and sucking their teeth after dining on Cape Buffalo and loutish yobs throw boots at them. I don’t think that one would stand up in court?
I know that when the British Army attempted to dispel crowds in Northern Ireland in the early ’70 by firing rubber bullets at them, the protesters would scramble for the spent rubber bullets to keep as souvenirs. Perhaps the lion wanted to keep the boot as a souvenir (well it was thrown away, wasn’t it) or conversation piece thereby supporting what would otherwise be an unbelievable tale?
I wish I’d been there.
The preffered tactic when firing baton rounds was not to aim directly at the crowd but to hit the floor just in front so as to skip the round up into the lower groin area. The skip got the round tumbling so was harder to avoid. As to whether you could get the same efect with a boot is open to question. Also imagine the aggro having to put a chit in for a new left boot when back at camp. I am sure I read somewhere advice about what to do if menaced by a wild animal. Apparently you should crouch down and make chewing noises as if eating. This should confuse the animal. Any takers for an experiment?
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