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Mr Joel Ngwenya, who is in his 50s, is full of praise for the Lord after escaping from the jaws of death on Tuesday when a lioness attacked him in the bush near his homestead.
Narrating his ordeal to Chronicle on Thursday at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) where he is admitted, Mr Ngwenya said he is still in pain.
“Lions have been causing terror in my area. A week ago they killed five of my beasts in one night. They also devoured another on Monday night,” said Mr Ngwenya.
He said on Tuesday morning he launched a quest to search for the lions.
“Five villagers and I went out to look for the lions to try and save our livestock. As we were in the bush, we came face to face with a lioness,” said Mr Ngwenya.
He said before he could come to grips with the situation, the other villagers had already fled from the scene.
“The lioness looked straight into my eyes and started roaring while approaching me steadily. At that moment intense fear engulfed me and I started sweating,” said Mr Ngwenya.
He said the lioness then sprang towards him and pushed him down with its claws.
“It then came on top of me. I looked at it straight into its eyes too. It just stood still while looking at me,” said Mr Ngwenya.
He said after a moment the lioness suddenly went away without doing anything to him. However, he could not run away as he was weak because of fear.
“It moved about 10 metres away to check on its cub and then came back. At that time it started biting me on both my arms,” said Mr Ngwenya.
He said during that moment he fell unconscious.
“I don’t know what happened and it just left me lying down and went away,” said Mr Ngwenya.
He said he lost his mobile phone during the scuffle with the lioness.
“I lay there for sometime before other villagers came to my rescue, I guess they were still afraid that the lioness was still within the vicinity,” said Mr Ngwenya.
He was later rushed to Victoria Falls District Hospital before being transferred to UBH, where he is recovering.
Mr Ngwenya said he suspected the lions could have escaped from Hwange National Park.
“I would like to urge relevant authorities to do something about these lions because our lives are in great danger,” said Mr Ngwenya.
Online Reporter