A preteen Zimbabwean boy has his grandmother to thank after he used her survival tactics to escape the jaws of a crocodile which attacked him as he crossed Save River.
Delvin Mutsvakiwa, the grade seven student escaped with injuries on both his arms. The 12-year-old from Buhera fought through the pain and used his grandmother’s wisdom to escape from the crocodile.
Delvin remembered his grandmother’s advice that should he be attacked by a crocodile, he should poke his fingers into the reptile’s nostrils. With its air supply running out, the crocodile became powerless and let Devlin go.
The boy utilised the opportunity and swam to safety. Devlin was taken to Murambinda Mission Hospital where he stayed for two days.
He narrated how he survived a crocodile attack to The Manica Post.
He revealed that he and his friends were helping their cattle cross Save River when he felt a sharp pain as the crocodile attacked his left arm.
After poking the crocodile in its nostrils and surviving, Devlin swam to the river bank where he applied sand to stop the bleeding.
He told the publication:
We were helping our cattle cross Save River and I was in front. We had helped the first and second batches of our herd to cross the river. We were crossing with the last batch when I felt a sharp pain on my left arm. I realised that a crocodile was attacking me. My friends who were behind me ran back to the riverbank and started shouting, advising me to wade to the reeds. I shouted back that it was too deep for me to do that. I could see that if I took heed of their advice, the reptile would eventually overpower and kill me. That’s when I poked my fingers into the crocodile’s nostrils. After a few minutes, I realised that it had become powerless. It let go of its grip on my hand and I quickly swam to the riverbank. I was badly injured and was bleeding profusely. I had to put some sand on the wounds to stop the bleeding
However, the crocodile was not done with the young man as it followed his blood trail with Devlin escaping death by a whisker after the crocodile turned its attention to a goat which miraculously passed by.
Devlin’s grandmother had imparted knowledge to her grandchildren after one of them lost his life after a crocodile attacked him at the same crossing point.
