RENOWNED conservationist, John Digby Bristow, has been killed by a wounded buffalo he was trying to nurse. Bristow on Wednesday succumbed to injuries he sustained when the buffalo trampled him.Bristow was gored by the buffalo he was taking care of at a rented property at Mateke Hills in the Bubi area of Mwenezi district, 90km north of Beitbridge.
His wife Vannesa Bristow narrated events leading to her husband’s death.
“We arrived at 18:30 hours and he went straight to where the buffalo was but it charged at him. He tried to shoot it, but missed and it took him down,” she said.
“It happened so fast we were 30 metres from him and the injured animal pinned him down and kept pounding him. He tried to crawl out of its grip but a lot of damage had been done. He succumbed to the injuries some minutes later when we took him to safety.”
He was famous for his contribution to the establishment of the Mapungubwe Transfrontier Park shared among Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa.
He immensely contributed to the armed struggle by taking care of young people leaving the country for Botswana to join the armed struggle.Bristow was a friend of the late Father Zimbabwe. Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo.He hosted him countless times at his Sentinel Ranch 120km west of Beitbridge.He hosted the famous Tour DeTuli, a unique mountain bike adventure which provided participants with the life-changing opportunity of riding across three countries over a distance of 300km.
