Hit in the belly by great white…
And ex KZN game ranger lives to tell Mervyn Naidoo the tale, and why he still goes spearfishing
NOT even the thought of a great white shark’s powerful jaws biting him was enough to deter Norman Galli from going spearfishing again.
Galli loves the “wild” and not even a few death defying encounters can keep him away.
Earlier this month, Galli, a former KwaZulu-Natal game ranger now living in Australia, was bitten by a great white shark that took him by surprise while Galli was fishing from Cheynes Beach, Western Australia.
Unbeknown to Galli, 50, he was spared the full consequences of the shark’s bite because his speargun got lodged in the predator’s mouth as it attempted to compress its jaws on his upper torso. The stunned shark shook Galli violently as it tried to disengage with the gun in its mouth.
It broke free, before swimming off and leaving the victim with only a flesh wound.
The fearless Galli, who had previosuly been charged at by a pride of lions and gored by a rhino, said he had no intention to give up spearfishing after that lucky escape.
He reasoned: “The chances of being attacked a second time are now very low. I can now spear fish with abandon. If I die to a shark… so be it.”
It was not all talk from the former St Lucia man who works for South African mining company AngloGold Ashanti as an environmental manager.
He was back in the water last weekend, even though the wound on his stomach had not fully healed.
“It was great to be back in the water. I did not feel uncomfortable or have any flashbacks or anything like that.”
He said he did not believe he had had an encounter with a shark, because he hadn’t seen the predator. His instincts told him that the hard hit was possibly from the boat that ferried him and his friend Anton van Wyk into the ocean.
“I was totally unaware of the animal before and after the attack, it blind-sided me.”
Galli believes the shark might have come at a 45º angle, from behind, and hit him so hard he thought the boat had struck him.
“When the shark attacked, I was floating in the water, my speargun, which was lying parallel to my body, rammed against my ribcage and the barrel got stuck in the shark’s mouth.”
After the commotion, Galli said he had lifted his head out of the water thinking he would see the boat almost on top of him, but it was about 150m away. It was then he realised that he had been attacked.
“I felt very vulnerable without my gun, which I saw floating about 20m away. I shouted to my friend Anton, who had just got out of the water.
“He responded immediately because he could hear the distress in my voice and they (rescuers) approached quickly,” said Galli, who had to swim a short distance before climbing aboard.
Blood was pouring from his wound. “‘You’ve been bitten’,” Anton said to me and he took me to hospital”
But the reality of the attack sank in for Galli and Van Wyk when they examined the dis- tinct bite marks left on his wetsuit. Judging by the marks and the spacing, Galli said he believed the shark might have been about 4m long.
Interacting with nature has been a way of life for Galli, who moved to Australia in 2004.
His father Noel was one of the pioneering Zululand spearfishermen of his day. “My father taught my brother Wally and me spearfishing and scuba diving when I was 8 years old.”
After finishing school at Eshowe High and two years of national service in the army, Galli completed a BSc degree in botany and zoology at the University of KZN-Pietermaritzburg. Later he completed honours in wildlife management at the University of Pretoria.
He got a job with the old Natal Parks Board (now KZN Ezemvelo Wildlife) in 1989, working as a trails ranger at Imfolozi Game Reserve.
Galli worked his way through the ranks at Imfolozi and in 1993 he moved to Hluhluwe Game Reserve and became the head ranger.
He also headed a game reserve in Botswana before making Australia his home.
But during his years in the bush, Galli that said he had had many close encounters with wild animals.
Once, at Imfolozi, while bird watching, a massive black rhino darted towards him at a pace but when he jumped behind a tree the animal made a U-turn.
However, he did not get off as lightly when he clashed with another rhino while scout training, in the same reserve, in 1992.
A female rhino took offence at Galli, who was snapping pictures of her and her calf, and horned his hip.
Galli’s dog Impi, a Jack Russell, scared the rhinos off with incessant barking.
Impi also intervened when Galli had a pride of lions bear down on him. He was patrolling Imfolozi on horseback when the encounter took place.
Alarmed by the lion’s presence, Galli’s horse threw him and bolted away. Galli fired a shot from his handgun into the ground and screamed as loudly as he could as the lions charged.
About a metre away from Galli, the lion leading the attack suddenly turned tail.
Shortly thereafter, a rhino was upset with Galli and his group and poised to strike.
“Impi broke loose and barked his head off and caused the rhino to run away,” Galli said.
After all his close encounters, the father of two teenage sons said he would never end his “spiritual connection with nature”.
“I have always been captivated by two maxims; nature is cheaper than therapy and never say never in the bush or sea, it’s all about the connection.”
Asked why he joined a mining company after his years as a conservationist, Galli said becoming disillusioned with life in South Africa was a big part of the reason he had left.
But he didn’t think his latest brush with death was nature’s revenge for turning his back on wildlife.