My Life is Shattered After a Rare Giraffe Attack.

It was a normal day in our lives.

It was midday, around the time that Kaia normally takes a nap. I lay down with her. On this day, Kayden, that does not normally nap in the day, decided to come lie down with us.  We all fell asleep. I woke up to an alarm that reminded me to get ready to meet a student.  

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I woke the kids, and we walk the short pathway to my parents house, where they usually go to play when I work. We know this pathway like the back of our hands, family and staff walk up and down here many times a day.

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Kuleni Game Park – where we live – is in fact a no-drive reserve, so guests and staff are encouraged to walk rather than drive. Driving is not allowed in many areas.

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I crossed the entrance road, onto the bush-path about 150m from my parents home. We listen and look at all the bees that are out, and I remind Kayden to thank them for all the hard work they do.

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The path turns around a cluster of trees and as we come around the bend we see the giraffes. We stop to watch them, waiting for them to move.  I saw a cow and a bull and wondered where the calf is.  I thought it was strange and looked around to see where the calf could be  - you don’t want to be caught between the mother and the calf.  The calf was nowhere to be seen.

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The bull showed no interest in us, the cow lifted her head and stared in our direction as if to check and make sure what we were. Once satisfied she turned her head and her body away and started moving off - away from us.

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Once they were at a safe distance, we continued walking and we carried on towards my parents’ house. Kayden walking beside me and Kaia in my arms. We were only about 10m away from the entrance pathway, when I heard something behind me. By the time I look over my shoulder the giraffe was already towering over us, with feet in the air ready to come down on us, and I knew there was no escaping her.

My Life Changed Forever.

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I wake up, lying in the sand. I could not see or hear Kaia. She was still in my arms as I hold her close to protect her. But  the impact from the giraffe more than I could protect.

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On that day, we lost our Fairy Girl Kaia. I am grateful that she passed almost instantly, that her body was intact and that she did not have suffering.

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I could hear Kayden crying somewhere away from me. I remember seeing him moments ago, curled-up into a ball, instinctively protecting his head, with the towering giraffe on top of him, trying to kick him. Moments later I hear him closer to my head.

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He is injured but ok and telling me that everything will be ok.  My mother and brother arrive first to help us, and then gradually more and more people arrive on the scene. Kaia is rushed to the doctor in town, and once the ambulance arrives, Kayden is taken to the hospital in Richards Bay.  

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The day turns into night before, finally, 5 hours later I am airlifted to Netcare Umhlanga. I will only see my parents again at 1am, as they prepare to move me into the ICU from the Trauma unit. 

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I am Broken

I learn that my sister Tegan is now with Kayden, in the ICU in Richards Bay, 150km from where I am. They give me the news that Kaia did not survive and we cry together.

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In April this year, Jason went to work on a farm in the USA in April due to lack of employment for him here, and to start making some money for our young family.  He has not seen me or his kids in 7 months, and is at this stage still in Mississippi anxiously waiting to get on a plane to come to us.   

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As the doctors and reports come in we learn that Kayden has a concussion and several serious skull fractures. I have a broken left humerus and fractured right scapula. All the ribs on the right side of my body is broken and I have a collapsed lung. I have a liver laceration, a concussion and cut to my skull, a broken jaw and several broken vertebra in my lower back.

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I cant feel my legs. I am broken.

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The next day  Kayden is moved to my hospital and he finally joins me in ICU, lying in the bed next to me for the next week.

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My New Reality

It is nearly a month later.  I am still in hospital. I open my phone and see an Instagram Countdown reminder that we have 13 days to go before my children and I will be reunited with their father and my partner. My person, since I was 13 years old.

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We have a plan to dress up in farmer outfits, and to meet him at the airport – the first thing he will see is his supportive and grateful family – ready to welcome him back – at the airport. He has been working on a farm in the USA for the past 8 months, while I have been home with our 2 kids, teasing him about the superiority of biltong over beef jerky.

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Reality hits hard. I pause to think about how excited we all were to welcome him back. That day never came, instead I am writing this from a hospital bed where I have been for the past month, trying to make sense of what my new average day looks like now. 

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I left behind a life where every single day, every moment, was spent in nature with my kids, and now am faced with the reality of never seeing my little girl again (not in this lifetime anyway) and being restricted to seeing my boy for just a few hours each day. Not able to even hug Jason after not seeing him for 8 months.

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This is not the exciting time we all looked forward to. Sometimes I feel like this is just temporary illusion and if I think about it hard enough, I will be able to go back in time, wake up from our afternoon nap, and just lay there holding my two babies until evening comes, and everything would be ok again. Everything would make sense.

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But this is not an illusion. My breasts are dry, my bed is cold and lonely, my arms are empty, my mind and my body don’t communicate like they used to, and I feel so betrayed by the animal that I reminded my children to admire daily.

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Does Anybody Care?

I feel absolutely abandoned by the park, the place I once thought was the safest place in the world, to live and raise my children. 

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I am left with silence on my journey to understand what happened, and why it happened. How to prevent it from happening to anyone else and how to eliminate the potential stressors that caused the giraffe to behave in such an unusual way.

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As the days pass I go where I know I should not go – but have a look regardless – the comment section on social media. Many people care. There is a lot of prayers and support for me, but so many people seem more concerned about the giraffe. “Why was she there, she should have known better, the giraffe is a wild animal only doing what comes naturally”

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I understand the initial response – but the more I read the angrier I get.

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I am angry because everyone that seems to care so much for wildlife are saying things like – the giraffe is just doing what it naturally does – as if I was not doing the same. I was also just doing what I naturally do.

I am a qualified guide – a professional.

 

I followed all protocols as any other guide would have. I did not attack or intrude on the giraffe, she attacked me.  This was not a “tourist gets too close to wild animals on safari” gone wrong incident as some media outlets have made it look. I was doing what almost everyone one else on that reserve does every day.

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As a mother, I have an understanding for her – the giraffe. I understand what it must feel like to be in survival mode. To be unsupported and without all the resources you need. To be stretched beyond your limits while trying to care for your baby in the wild. I can understand that this will drive animals to strange behavior.

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What angers me is that everyone seems to think that this is fine – this is normal. It is NOT. She was NOT doing wat animals do in the wild. She was acting out of stress and is as much a victim of this terrible incident as me and my children. 

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Why is no one asking why she did this - instead they are concerned with what I did or did not do, and as long as the giraffe is alive, no one cares why she behaved so strangely – or bothers to ask if she needs care or attention.  

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Why is everyone so furious, but no one is curious?

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No one is asking why this happened. If she attacks someone else, will there be a proper investigation? Or will it also be the other person’s fault?

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I am angry that so many people have so many opinions based on only assumptions.

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Here I am, the person that lived through this incident, and no one has asked me what happened in order to prevent this from happening again to someone else. No one has asked me what happened in order to establish if the giraffe is ok or if she needs help – care, attention!

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Rebuilding my Life

I still have a lot of time left in rehab, by the sound of it, several months. I hope I can find some answers during this time.

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In the meantime, my family and I, all have to rebuild our lives. 

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We live in Hluhluwe, 3 hours away from the city where I am being treated in Ballito. Neither me or my partner Jason will be able to go back to work for the foreseeable future, and my family will have to completely rethink how to live their lives in order to be here to support myself, Jason and Kayden whilst keeping their business running back home.

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We need a place to stay, and a wheelchair-friendly vehicle. We need to find a way to generate an income for the next year or more away from home.  My sister Tegan has not been able to return to work, she has been here to help with Kayden, to support Jason and to take turns with my parents and Jason to be here at the rehab to support me.

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This is so hard with so much uncertainty ahead of us. My family has set up a Gofundme campaign to assist with all the medical costs, wheelchair and equipment, as well as the cost of moving and reorganizing our lives around this new reality.

 

We will appreciate any support either by way of donation or sharing the campaign. We appreciate every bit of support.