At 66, you’d rather want to stay at a place where you are safe and sound and not endangered by some kind of a terrible situation. Still, one doesn’t quite know where the next, unsought attack from fatality occurs or is about to- isn’t it?
Surely, 66-year-old Chinese tourist Chang Ming Chuang didn’t know a thing what was coming his way when he decided to engage in a free-falling session of some wildlife photography at a Kenyan national safari park.
Obviously, safari parks and wildlife centres are places that enjoy enormous interest from just about any age group, whether it’s young, keen children or adults or the aged.
China’s Chang Ming Chuang too was fascinated by the promising African safari and headed for among the most celebrated and renowned tourist destinations in the entire world when it comes to exploring the world’s wildlife.
After all, few places can challenge the might and standing of Kenya isn’t it? But little did Chang Ming Chunag know what was coming his way. Just when the happy go lucky and completely joyous Chinese tourist was busy taking pictures, enjoying his time amid the serene and captivating beauty of Lake Naivasha, something fatal occurred.
Completely unbeknownst to him, a hippo attacked Mr Chang Ming Chuang who was injured majorly and eventually, succumbed to the serious injuries sustained in the uncalled and unforeseen altercation with the wild animal.
The man was pronounced dead on arrival at the Naivasha District Hospital, while another tourist survived the attack on Saturday evening, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service. And that’s not all.
Once the incident happened, in the immediate aftermath, almost every major Kenyan media outlet, including all of the national newspapers carried news of the aforementioned incident.
And truth be told, it wasn’t that hard to understand why. The saddest part about the incident wasn’t just that a harmless tourist, someone wielding a camera and nothing dangerous at all was hurt and eventually killed, but rather that the man was a 66-year-old veteran.
At 66, you’d much rather want the old to be taken care of, and not be involved in fatal injuries, least of all, a sudden altercation with the wildlife. Isn’t it?
A detailed report was also published in several American and British newspapers and the following details were carried out by Daily Mail:
The head of a boat owners’ association in Navaisha told Kenyan newspaper The Star that higher than normal water levels were causing hippos to wander from the lake on to nearby farms and hotel properties searching for pasture.
After a severe drought last year, Kenya had several months of heavy rains earlier this year that caused serious flooding, including around Lake Naivasha, 56 miles southeast of Nairobi.
It is not that the injured Chinese man wasn’t rushed to a nearby medical facility although, by the time he was brought in, he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Tourism is one of the country’s main sources of foreign exchange and nearly 1.5 million tourists visited Kenya last year, according to the tourism ministry
Wildlife service spokesman Paul Udoto said the circumstances are not clear in which the two Chinese men were attacked.
He said attacks on tourists are rare because they are usually protected by guides.
Mr Udoto said hippos and lone buffalo pose the greatest danger to humans and there have been many attacks in which civilians and even rangers have lost their lives.