- Zanele Fox was five days out from her big day when a weekend away left her fighting for life
- Zanele and her fiancé Jamie were paddling in an inflatable canoe when a crocodile attacked
- Surviving the terrifying ordeal, just five days later Zanele married the man of her dreams
Here Zanele Fox tells her story in her own words.
Paddling in an inflatable canoe towards Victoria Falls, in Zimbabwe, I was in awe.
A sunny morning, the birds were chirping in the trees as our tour group floated along the river.
It was April 2018 and my fiancé, Jamie, then 27, had surprised me with a weekend away ahead of our wedding, now in just five days’ time.
We’d met three years earlier when Jamie took part in a six-month volunteer program in my home country of Zimbabwe.
While he visited schools in the area, educating students about sexual health, I was working as an accountant at a sexual health clinic.
Working out of the same office, we’d grown quite close during his stay.
Keeping in touch afterwards through email, our feelings soon turned romantic and we began a long-distance relationship.
Then in February 2018, after two years together, Jamie asked me to marry him on a trip in Zimbabwe.
‘Yes!’ I beamed.
Now, as we paddled towards the breathtaking waterfalls, I couldn’t wait to celebrate our love.
‘If you’re lucky, we might see some wildlife,’ one of the guides announced.
Spotting ripples in the water, I assumed it was a school of fish.
READ MORE: ‘I Was Pierced By A Platypus!’
But when two menacing green eyes appeared, Jamie and I gasped in horror.
‘Crocodile!’ I whimpered, terrified.
Hoping to scare it off, I slammed my paddle into the water, as the reptile disappeared below the surface.
Then suddenly, the water parted and the predator launched straight towards me.
I was a sitting duck at the front of the canoe and its monstrous jaws clamped down on my right arm, piercing the edge of the inflatable vessel as it attacked.
It all happened so fast, there was no time to react as Jamie was thrown from the canoe and the monster dragged me out and underwater.
As the beast thrashed me from side to side, I went limp with dizziness, my lungs screaming for air.
Its teeth sank further into my arm, and I felt the sickening crunch of my bones being snapped like twigs.
Punching and kicking with all my might, I fought like hell to get it to release me, as Jamie screamed out from above.
But it was no use. I’m going to die, I thought, the massive crocodile’s grip unrelenting.
As the croc torpedoed to the surface, I desperately gasped for air, before it barrelled me back down, carrying me deeper towards the river bed in a horrifying death roll.
Just as the fight in me started to dim, I felt the creature’s jaws unlock, and my life jacket floated me back to the surface.
READ MORE: ‘Shark bite horror: I punched a shark to survive!’
I was dazed and out of breath as Jamie grabbed hold of me, swimming us to the riverbank where a guide used a paddle to help drag us to safety.
Back on land I caught a glimpse of my mutilated arm – my hand hanging on by a thread of skin.
‘Stay with me. I love you,’ Jamie begged, as the shock hit me.
By the time ambos arrived 20 minutes later, the pain was unbearable, as I faded in and out of consciousness.
Flown to hospital in a helicopter, there doctors dressed my wounds and gave me pain relief, before we were transferred to a bigger facility eight hours away in Bulawayo.
When we arrived around 11pm, my parents, Lufu and Thadeus, and sisters, Linda, then 28, and Thembie, 23, were waiting to embrace me, after Jamie had told them about the shocking attack.
‘Thank God you’re alive,’ they said.
As I was raced into surgery, doctors promised they’d do their best to save my arm.
When I woke again, Jamie was by my side.
‘I thought I’d lost you,’ he said, tears in his eyes, explaining he’d tried to get to me in the water but couldn’t.
Heartbreakingly, my right arm couldn’t be saved and was amputated above the elbow.
Scans showed I’d also broken five ribs and my left arm in the ordeal.
READ MORE: ‘Shark bite horror: My head was inside the shark’s jaws’
With our wedding day looming, my surgeon, who was also a pastor, visited my bedside.
‘I can marry you in the hospital chapel,’ he offered.
So with help from our wedding planner, who brought decorations, the cake, my dress and Jamie’s suit, we told our guests the day was going ahead in a new location.
Just four days later, I could barely wipe the smile from my face as I floated down the aisle towards a Jamie and married life.
I didn’t feel any pain, just pure joy.
While it wasn’t the wedding we’d dreamed of, it was still perfect to us.
The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority later confirmed the 2.5m croc was euthanised.
After eight days in hospital, I was cleared to return home, where Jamie helped me bathe and dress. Seven months later, we relocated to Kent in the UK.
There I was fitted with a cosmetic prosthetic to help make me feel more confident.
Through it all, Jamie has been my rock as I’ve navigated my new life, helping me with everything from opening jars to tying my shoelaces.
And when we welcomed our two beautiful kids, Kiara, now four, in January 2022 and Isaac, now 10 months, in August 2025, Jamie was my biggest supporter.
Now eight years on from the terrifying attack, I am so grateful for my second chance at life.
When Kiara and Isaac are old enough to understand, I’ll tell them about the day I fought for my life.
A crocodile might have stolen my arm, but it didn’t steal my happiness.
