here is the story below

'Tarzan' survives leopard attack
01/07/2008 09:39 - (SA)


Marietie Louw-Carstens, Beeld

Polokwane - The elderly Limpopo farmer who was seriously injured when a leopard attacked him last week, was also tackled by a female lion years ago.

The family of Stephen van der Walt, 83, told on Monday how he had been involved in a struggle with a female lion in the 1970s.

"My dad is called the Tarzan of the Bushveld," said his daughter, Haniki Jacobs, next to her father's hospital bed in the Limpopo-MediClinic in Polokwane.

The leopard and the lion both came second.

Back then, Van der Walt injured his knee during the fight with the lion in the Musina area. A friend of his shot and killed the lion.

Struggle with wounded leopard

Van der Walt narrowly escaped death last week after a fierce struggle with a wounded male leopard, on his farm Kongo, about 70km from Musina.

The predator had been after Van der Walt's cattle and had caught some calves. Van der Walt and a friend, Gerrie Nel, 47, who was visiting from Centurion, saw the leopard's tracks last Tuesday.

Nel shot the animal. Both men thought the leopard was dead and walked up to where it was lying under a tree. They were only metres away when the wounded leopard jumped up and bit Nel on the face and on the head.

Nel tried to pull the animal off Van der Walt and put his hand in the leopard's mouth. The animal then fell on top of him, dead. Covered in blood, the men then stumbled about a kilometre through the veld back to their bakkie. They eventually found help at a nearby hunting camp.

Jacobs, who had been visiting from England and spent the last month on her parents' farm, said she told her father he was "getting too old" to be going off after predators.

Knowledge of the veld

She added her father "can't sit still" and had an incredible knowledge of the veld.

Van der Walt's wife, Petro, showed visitors an album with newspaper and magazine clippings that appeared over the years, describing Van der Walt's hunting adventures. Some of the articles called Van der Walt "a big lion hunter". Van der Walt believed if one wanted to learn more about someone's true character, you had to spend time with them in the veld.

The injury to Van Der Walt's right eye is healing every day, but there is a 50% chance that he may lose vision in the eye. Otherwise he is recovering well and is even able to walk short distances with a Zimmer frame.

Van der Walt's children wrote him a letter saying "thanks for saving the most important person in our lives. You are our hero".

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2349926,00.html

Gentlemen, those old leather covered guys who have lived in the veld all their lives are indistructable! Mr Van Der Walt is a fine example of that fact!

Go get um, Mr. Van Der Walt, life ain't worth liveing if you ain't doing what you like!

Good thing that leopard didn't bite Ray or Will. It would probably have died from food poisoning.

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:
Good thing that leopard didn't bite Ray or Will. It would probably have died from food poisoning.

465H&H

Actually, I heard that Van Der Walt is really Ray's grandson.....

He returned to birth, I am glad that nothing will happen not this longevity sir.

Greetings,

Oscar.