Proposal follows elephant attack

Male elephants "on musth" become aggressive. Photo / AP
Male elephants "on musth" become aggressive. Photo / AP


Sarah Brooks and her South African fiance, Jans de Klerk, were attacked by the elephant as they drove through the Kruger National Park on December 30.

The couple have now returned to England after Brooks spent more than a week recovering from a pelvis fracture and stitches to her right leg after the elephant's tusk pierced it.


The 30-year-old science teacher told the Daily Mail she "completely freaked" as the elephant stormed towards them, and in her panic was unable to find reverse in the hire car.


"The next thing I heard was Jans screaming at me, 'Drive! Drive!"' Brooks said.


"Then he crushed the undercarriage by ramming it with his head, and the key snapped out of the ignition. I remember thinking, 'We're never going to be able to drive away now', and the next thing I knew we were rolling.

"At that moment, your life flashes through your head. I thought, 'We've only been together a year and a half, life's good. Why now? Why the hell now? It just isn't fair.' I didn't know if either of us would live."

She recalled how the bull elephant twice missed her when his tusks ripped through the car before one pierced her leg, leaving her streaming with the blood.

De Klerk, who was left unhurt, managed to pull her across to his side of the car.

The elephant walked away only after pushing the car against a tree and smashing the windscreen.

The incident was captured on film by tourists in a car behind, but they drove off after the attack, believing the pair to be dead.

The distressed couple, who feared attacks from other animals, waited for help after phoning de Klerk's brother but it was 25 minutes before a helicopter landed.

"In the back of the ambulance, I said to Jans, 'I don't want ever to spend another day apart from you.' He said, 'Marry me then?' I said: 'Yes'."


The male elephant was destroyed after the incident. It had been "on musth", where testosterone levels rise and elephants become more aggressive, and had fought with another elephant earlier that day.



© Copyright 2014, APN Holdings NZ Limited

Assembled by: (static) on red akl_a2 at 17 Mar 2014 15:34:24 Processing Time: 782ms