TWO teenage boys from Victoria Falls have one thing in common with the Biblical duo of Samson and David — they fought a lion and lived to tell the tale.
The two pre-adult herders from Chidobe Village in Victoria Falls emerged heroes after they threw all caution to the wind and literally fought and scared away a roaring lion to rescue one of their employer’s cows from the jaws of the king of the jungle.
The incident happened on Wednesday at around 3PM.
Khulekani Ndlovu (16), originally from Somgolo area in Lupane, is lucky to be alive after a female lion with cubs charged at him before it deeply wounded his left leg.
He was rescued by his colleague, Njabulo Ncube (17) who managed to scare away the huge cat by screaming as he shooksome tree branches and flapped his arms as well as clapped hands resulting in it running away.
Khulekani lay helplessly on the ground as the lion approached, intending to finish him off after it struck him from behind as he was fleeing.
He said he dramatically dived behind a tree seeing that the lion was about to catch him. At that moment, the lion tried to grab him with its claws.
The two teenagers were herding cattle in the forestland when the lion attacked one of the cows. They immediately ran towards the lion to save the animal.
Khulekani was treated and discharged at Victoria Falls Hospital. For him, surviving the attack is a miracle.
“We were sitting with Njabulo when we heard a cow making noises about 50 metres away. When we rushed to the scene, we came face to face with a lion attacking the cow.
“We started making noise to scare it away and the lion abandoned the cow and turned on us. It charged at us and we fled in different directions.”
“After running for about 50 metres I looked over my shoulder and saw the lion gaining ground. I fell down and couldn’t rise as I felt powerless,” he said.
Upon seeing that his friend was in danger, Njabulo stopped running, came towards where the lion was and started shouting and shaking tree branches. The lion fled.
Khulekani sustained injuries on the left ankle and below the knee. Njabulo helped him rise to his feet and they walked back home.
Victoria Falls businessmen, Morgen Dube and Christopher Ndiweni helped Khulekani with transport to the hospital.
Ncube of BH28 Hlanganani Village under Chief Mvuthu, who accompanied Khulekani to the hospital said he was still in shock.
“Initially when these two boys told me about the attack, I didn’t believe them until they explained to me and I saw the wounds. Njabulo has had similar encounters with lions and he has saved cows from being attacked by lions on three occasions,” he said.
Ncube said every year, they lose between 10 and 15 cattle to lions.
“I have personally lost two cows. Our appeal to the Government is that it should try and protect people from these wild animals by reserving grazing land for us and driving away wild animals to another area,” he said. – The Chronicle
