The Sunday News
Lackson Munkombwe, Features Reporter
THE majestic Victoria Falls is probably Zimbabwe’s jewel of tourism. It is not only known for the natural water falls but for its wildlife and strikingly sensuous nature. It harbours a measurable number of activities and a basketful of tourists from all over the world come to connect with the beauty and wonderment of nature’s creativeness.
Despite its striking beauty, it is not spared of traceable risks and has victims too, both local and international who tell tales of their bad experiences and accidents with nature while enjoying life at one of the world’s seven wonders.
The area offers an escape from anxiety, and gives an illuminated smile to thousands of people who come to encounter God’s workmanship and beautiful nature curving. Some of the key activities you would “kill to experience”, range from gorge viewing, gaming, trails with big five of the jungle and many other good things that visitors may come across that strike their admiration.
The popular resort has however, been associated with a number of human-wildlife conflicts resulting in either loss of life or serious injuries. In-fact, so many stories of unfortunate encounters between people and animals of the jungle have been reported on and continue to happen.
Sunday News talked to one of the survivors — a tour guide who narrated his gruelling and life threatening ordeal following a hippo attack that cost him an entire leg. Mr Delta Ncube recounts the time he was tossed in and out of a hippo’s mouth before he lost his left leg while canoeing in the roaring Zambezi River.
Mr Ncube was a tour guide. Tour guides are people who lead a team of tourists as they view and appreciate what is on offer at tourist attraction centres and in the case of Vic Falls the water falls, wildlife and also taking individuals through boat cruises. They are supposed to have knowledge about the activities they are embarking on to ensure safety and fulfilled experiences to people needing the services.
As a tour guide, Mr Ncube said he was fast becoming one of the top guides at the resort. He was in the fast lane to become the most sought-after person during his time.
He curses his gods for neglecting him following his attack which subsequently left him with a permanent disability and rendered him unemployable in the tour guiding industry.
Every bad ending always has a good beginning and Mr Ncube reminisces the time he started tour guiding as one of his best moments of life.
He said he was developing very well in his life as he could manage to get almost everything he wanted for a living.
“I remember when I started doing tour guide, it was always fascinating when a group of tourists from around the world appreciated the journey we took and how well executed it would have been. They would cap it by promising to come back. It was always enough motivation that gave me not only the zeal, but the passion to do even better next time,” said Mr Ncube.
He said he was doing cannoning, producing eccentric drifts while sending tourists into wild excitement.
“All the activities were good but canoeing was becoming my best. I used to enjoy sailing in as much as people acknowledged the adventure. At the heart of everything, I would take spectators to game viewing involving lions, elephants, buffaloes, and other wild animals in the reserve. It was exciting to be involved in such escapades, at times guiding very influential people from the world,” said Mr Ncube.
What remains after five years of his haunting ordeal are memories of a past lived without regret that are somehow over-shadowing his future. He refuses to see any better of himself in future after the loss of his leg which forced him to be confined to a wheelchair.
He has been operating in the resort town’s central business as a cobbler though he cited difficulties in manoeuvring the once familiar corners and the emotional pain of not being able to reach places he used to go to before the incident.
“Life is not the same anymore. Repairing shoes is now just an option to keep myself busy but it hasn’t really worked for me in terms of rewards. I used to enjoy being out there, in the jungle, taking tourists to different places. That kept challenging me to be better compared to now when everything revolves around one place,” said a distraught Mr Ncube.
He said he owed his respect to wild animals as they were not to be trusted by anyone either through experience or heroics.
“I understand that Zambezi has one of the most aggressive crocodiles. It is not by coincidence they have killed so many people along the river and each year, casualties are recorded. I witnessed one of my friends being hooked and torn off and I couldn’t take the risk of trying to rescue him. They were in their territory and not ours so they controlled everything around,” he said.
He said his own attack was not fading from his mind. It was still vivid and will remain etched in his mind as he often sees it in his imaginations and during his sleep.
“On the day, we took our journey as usual. We went to the Zambezi River with a group of tourists who wanted to do canoeing. However, it did not take long before an alligator was throwing my friend’s boat up into the air. As I was still in shock and strategising on how to rescue him, an aggressive hippo was closing in on my boat and in a flash people were scattered in the turbulent Zambezi River. I could not help anyone as I found myself being tossed in and out of the hippo’s mouth. How I survived is still a mystery but I lost my left leg in the blink of an eye. Some members in the boat however, couldn’t make it out of the river,” said Mr Ncube, fighting the stubborn welling of tears in his eyes.
He said despite the attack and the injuries, the law was not merciful as he faced arrest for negligence and operating without a proper licence to embark on tour guide.
“I had a tour guide licence but I was still working to upgrade it. However, everything came to a halt when I was involved in the accident. I faced arrest after recovering from the injuries and I was banned from tour guide for life. I was emotionally drained but I was released because I was ailing,” he said.
According to statistics, the hippopotamus is often cited as the most dangerous large animal in the world, killing an estimated 500 people a year in Africa. So many people in Victoria Falls have been killed by wild animals at a time when they are either on game hunting or any direct confrontation in the reserves. Despite the attack, Mr Ncube said the resort town of Victoria Falls continues to sprawl and spread its tentacles to the world that had responded by coming in droves to see the wonder that the Falls were adding that the booming tourism numbers have seen the Government reciprocating by developing the resort town with new infrastructures being built each year.
He also encouraged young people who wanted to be tour guides to take professional lessons to avoid mistakes of omission and risking individuals’ lives.
