Furious wife: 1, giant croc: 0
When a crocodile grabbed Anthony Joubert, his brave wife grabbed a cudgel ...
● When the crocodile’s jaws slammed shut on his upper leg there was no pain, but Anthony Joubert knew that if he did not fight back with everything he had he was going to die in front of his wife and young children.
Speaking from his hospital bed in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, Joubert, 37, this week described how the crocodile had “exploded” out of the river where he and his 12-year-old son JP were fishing last Saturday and clamped onto his leg, pulling him into the water and into a violent death roll.
“I managed to grab the croc by his head with both hands. I forced my thumbs into his eyes and he did not like that. The croc started rolling. I realised I had to be smart and I tried to pre-empt the direction he was going so I could roll with him,” Joubert told the Sunday Times.
“Its jaws felt like a vice grip. It is not like wrestling or fighting another human. When the croc has you, the croc calls the shots. You can only try and react in the mad fight.”
He said it was ultimately his wife, Annalize, who had saved his life, beating the croc with a tree stump “with no regard for her own safety”.
Joubert suffered injuries to his leg, stomach and fingers. “I twisted my thumbs in the crocodile’s eyes,” he said.
Joubert and his family — including JP and his sisters, Liza and Ashleigh — had joined his employers Johan and Bianca van der Colff and their children on what was supposed to have been a fun-filled weekend getaway of fishing and relaxing near Middelburg.
Joubert started working as a detection specialist for the Van der Colffs in January at their Middelburg business Alfa Fire.
“The Van der Colffs invited us along for a weekend getaway at a property that belongs to a friend of theirs near Loskop Dam. It was our first time there but they have been there many times.”
Initially, everything went well.
“We spent Friday relaxing, listening to the shrieks of the kids playing. We had a very enjoyable time,” Joubert said.
On Saturday afternoon, JP went fishing. “It was somewhere between 4pm and 5pm when JP hooked a fish and shouted excitedly. I stood closer and noticed the fishing line was caught on a tree next to the water.”
Joubert walked over to the tree to free the fishing line.
“I stood on the water’s edge with my left foot in the shallow water, when time suddenly froze.
“There was this slow explosion of water and then this huge crocodile appeared from the water as if from nowhere,” he said.
The giant reptile slammed its jaws shut on his upper leg.
While he was focused on the croc, his wife and the Van der Colffs had already come to his aid.
“I did not even realise it at the time, I was so focused on the croc, but they immediately rushed in to help me with no regard for their own safety. They were very brave.”
He later found out how brave.
“I believe my wife saved my life. When the croc had me she immediately grabbed a piece of tree stump lying on the shore and started beating the croc with it. Bianca grabbed hold of her to ensure she wasn’t pulled into the water by the croc, and Johan held onto me.”
The “mad fight” continued “for what felt like hours”.
“But in reality it probably did not last more than two or three minutes. It ended when my wife landed another solid smack on the animal’s head. At that moment he must have decided his dinner was not worth the fight. He let go of me and disappeared back into the water,” Joubert said.
Annalize and the Van der Colffs dragged him from the water.
“They immediately used a first-aid kit to treat my severe wounds. I suspect they saved my life again by doing that. Dirty river water and open wounds are really not friends.”
After cleaning him up they loaded him into a bakkie and Johan rushed him to a state hospital in Middelburg.
“They immediately took me to the operating theatre and cleaned my wounds. The mixture of adrenaline and pain meds kept the pain away, but when I woke up Sunday morning I was in a world of pain,” Joubert said.
“The hospital staff was only willing to give me a Panado for the pain. Bianca’s parents came to visit me and they immediately made plans to move me to Life Midmed — the private hospital where I am now.”
Joubert and his family are still traumatised.
“The kids thought I was dead. They did not believe Annalize when she told them on Saturday evening that I was going to be fine. They could only come in on Monday. When they saw me in my bed they all started crying with relief,” Joubert said.
“My upper leg was damaged badly and there is a huge hole in my stomach. The hole in my stomach looks like it could have been a bite, but it might also have been from one of the many sharp sticks and branches where we fought,” Joubert said.
He will need further surgery.
“The docs say the flesh where a croc bites you becomes a problem. They already had to enlarge the wounds. I will probably also have to undergo a skin transplant at some point.”
Bianca told the Sunday Times that there are signs warning visitors about the presence of crocodiles posted on the property, but it has been many years since a crocodile was last spotted there. “Everybody believed they were dead or gone,” she said.
The Van der Colffs have launched a BackaBuddy campaign to help cover Joubert’s medical expenses.