We were tracking a problem male lion through fairly thick bush when we came upon a large male white rhino called "Brutalas". I knew this particular rhino, having seen him several times in this area. He had been returned to the bush after spending most of his life in a zoo. He had the habit of standing perfectly still in a very dense bush and then suddenly just stepping out in front of you. I had met him several times in this manner. Each time I responded by standing still and waiting for him to come up and sniff me. He always stood right next to me. After a few minutes I would slowly scratch his head and speak to him in a low comforting voice. When he had had enough human company he would amble away, allowing me to carry on. Sounds easy, right? Wrong.

Brutalas had lost all fear of humans, which made him sort of special, or so I thought. I made the mistake of becoming complacent, thinking I understood him. And, on that day, I didn’t have time to explain this rhino’s personality to my hunting companion. I could not expect a hunter new to this area to just stand still while a very big rhino came up and sniffed him. I told my tracker Naftal to slowly take the hunter back to the motor while I stayed with Brutalas and kept him occupied.

As Brutalas approached me all my sense told me that I had made a big mistake. The rhino was in a real bad mood. He was snorting through flared nostrils and shaking his head. When I put my hand on his nose he tossed it away. I stood still waiting for him to calm down. When I reached out to scratch his head again, he tossed my hand away. "So, I am not your friend today," I whispered to him. I stood perfectly still and for a couple of minutes so did he. Then he turned and tried to butt me with his big stumpy horn. For a couple of minutes we had a pushing and shoving match. Brutalas was looking for a fight, which could not be good for me.

I surveyed my surroundings, finding only a few thorn bushes and very small acacias nearby. There were no big trees in sight. I knew he had a habit of chasing anything that moved so I kept all my motions slow and controlled and stayed close to the rhino hoping he would calm down.

However, Brutalas had other ideas. He butted me more aggressively with his head and kept pushing me and shoving me around in a circle as I continued to try and limit my movements on his side. It dawned on me that this was probably getting his temper up rather than calming him down so I stepped right in front of him and put my hand on his snout. Whilst stepping backward to keep him from running me down I tried desperately to get through to him. I got the distinct message we were not playing at this point.

I made a quick dash for a large bush and went right around it at full speed, coming to a complete standstill on the front side of the bush. I had read stories about rhinos just carrying straight on because they are not able to turn quickly at high speed. My experience proved this is nonsense. The rhino turned half his bulk instantly and came barrelling right through the bush and knocked me down.

I grabbed his stumpy horn and held on tight whilst we took off at one hell of a speed through every thorn bush he could find. Each time we hit a bush, Brutalas shook his head vigorously trying to dislodge me so that he could trample me with his front feet. I knew that if I came off the horn I would be history. I could see bits of my shirt hanging on bushes and there seemed to be blood coming from every part of me.

We finally hit a bush with bigger branches and came to a halt for a split second and then he shook me half off his horn. In that moment he struck me with his right front toe and broke four of my ribs. I grabbed harder and pulled myself higher just as he pushed to try and finish me. He turned and off we went again. His head was shaking me like a terrier with a rat. I could see his eyes blazing with rage. I thought of trying to get my knife out of the sheath on my belt and stabbing him in an eye. But, there were two problems with that idea. First, if I relaxed my grip even for a second, he would feel it and take full advantage of it. Second, even if I could get my hands on my knife and manage to get it into one of his eyes, it would mean that I would have to shoot the rhino afterwards and I could see the trouble that would bring down on me. I had the feeling, however, that if I did not do something quickly I was going to be history.

Brutalus lowered his head and rubbed me into the ground. In fact, he was digging the ground with me, as he thrashed around the bush. He came to a stop again in bush so thick I could not even move my head. Out of my left eye I saw that my leg was twisted back under his body. Just as he stood on it I saw some old stumps sharp like stakes, come right through my leg.

Now, I must say that all this time I was fully aware of everything that was happening. I could see little bits of me left on thorn bushes. I felt a sort of dull cracking of my ribs. I would not have believed that the stake had gone through my leg it I had not watched it happen. I could feel no pain. I pulled my leg off the stump as it had occurred to me that when he took off again, half my leg would get left behind! My own attitude began to change. I could feel uncontrollable anger replacing fear, just then Brutalas pulled back for the first time. Until that moment he had been pushing forward. I gripped hard with my right arm and stuck my left thumb into his right eye with all the strength I could muster. I could feel his eyeball slide around. I will not repeat here what I said to that rhino as I pushed on its eyeball. But, that did it. The next thing I knew I was going through the air right over his back. I landed in some sort of heap of legs and arms. There was so much dust that for a few seconds I could not see anything.

I heard the motor and got on my feet just as my tracker came through the dust cloud. With a quick roll I was lying in the back of the bakkie just as Brutalas hit us putting a dent in the side of the motor. I lay there with the pain sweeping through my body. My rifle was now at hand and the thought went through my mind that I could use it on the puffing, grunting rhino who was charging the bakkie. It never came to that.

I was in the hospital within three hours being "sorted out". I made a deal with the sister and was back in camp that night. A few days later, my client, Bob took the problem animal. Feeling good inside and not too good outside, we packed up camp and headed back to our lodge. Every man who is married will know what I mean when I say I was not looking forward to sharing my pain.

Two days later I was back in the main hospital in Windhoek with gangrene. It was touch and go for a while whether I would be able to keep my leg. That was a shock I did feel. The doctors did a fantastic job and I am as good as new. But one thing I learned well. Don’t ever get complacent or take any animal for granted.