A safari guide swept away in front of his group by a 12-foot-long crocodile managed to break free from its grip and make it back to shore after a struggle worthy of a movie.
“It was so fast, so fast. I didn’t even see him come out of the water. I only had time to say “Ah shit!” that I was in his jaw and under water,” said ranger Mark Montgomery, 52, in an interview with the YouTube channel Wildside Trails & Training.
On April 25, the tourist guide who does Safaris in the Kruger National Park in northeastern South Africa approached a river to collect water when the head of the crocodile appeared in front of him. .
Without even having had time to react, the fifties would have been dragged underwater by the arm to the other side of the river, under the astonished eyes of his group.
“I could see his whole body dragged […] It disappeared and then reappeared on the other side of the river, but even though the crocodile was fierce, Mark was really fighting it – I’m not sure I would have survived,” said hiker Wayne Stocks, who was harvesting water at his side, according to “The Mirror” reported on Monday.
Fortunately, the guide who did not want to lose his life kept his cool, attacking the crocodile’s eyes and then its jaw, until it finally opened its mouth. It was then that he found himself on the surface, five feet from the shore, pulling himself using a fallen tree to reach dry land.
“Being underwater with the crocodile seemed like a while, but when I resurfaced, the time it took me to swim to shore felt like an eternity. You just wait for him to come back for you and time stands still,” he continued.
As soon as he made it back to shore, the 52-year-old received first aid to fix his broken bones and suture the teeth marks left in his arm.
Although he considers himself extremely lucky to have survived given the reptile’s “incredible” strength, the adventurer does not plan to stop his guided tours, he confided, indicating however that he will be much more vigilant near the ‘water.