The beast sunk its teeth into the neck of Naemi Boy before dashing back into the bushes – the Swede, lucky to be alive, said she must have a ‘guardian angel’ watching over her
A Swedish tourist was reportedly savaged by a lion and dragged from her horse during a nightmare safari attack in South Africa. She somehow miraculously lived to tell the tale.
Naemi Boy was on a horse-riding safari near Tzaneen in the Limpopo Province, when a two-year-old male lion suddenly sprang from the long grass and sank his teeth into her neck. The shocking incident happened as the 21-year-old rode at the back of her group, a position usually reserved for staff because it’s considered the safest.
But in a horrifying twist of fate, the big cat was lying in wait in the undergrowth, unseen by the group.
As Naemi passed by, the beast launched itself at the adventurous traveller, biting deep into her neck and dragging her from the saddle in a frenzied attack. Witnesses reportedly said the lion clamped its jaws around her for several terrifying seconds before letting go and disappearing back into the bush.
Her fellow riders, frozen in disbelief, rushed to help her. Luckily, they managed to get her to a hospital in Tzaneen.
Naemi later told local media: “The bite went down to the vertebrae. Two vertebrae broke, and the spinal cord was damaged.”
The force of the fall also broke her hand. In hospital, things went from bad to worse when she suffered a stroke and developed a serious infection in the bite wound.
Doctors battled for weeks to stabilise her. Eventually on Friday (November 7), the survivor was finally strong enough to be flown back home to Sweden.
Now recovering in Malmo, Sweden, Naemi said: “I must have had a guardian angel. I’m numb on the left side after the stroke, but I can move everything.
“The doctors say I will make a full recovery. Who can say that after a lion attack?”
She currently wears a neck brace and faces possible surgery, though medics are hopeful she’ll recover without an operation. Incredibly, Naemi believes she knows the lion that attacked her and described him as a “young male often seen near the safari area”.
She thinks it may have lunged at her out of curiosity rather than aggression. “I remember mounting the horse,” she said, “but the next thing I knew I was waking up in hospital.”
Despite the trauma, Naemi says she’s not done with the African continent. Naemi said: “I had such a good time there.
“I definitely want to go on another horseback safari. But I’ll never ride last again.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
#Lion #drags #tourist #horse #neck #leaving #fighting #life
