By STEVE ROBSON
This is the photo taken seconds before a safari tourist was seriously injured by a rhino - after she was allegedly urged to stand closer to the animal by a wildlife expert. Chantal Beyer, 24, was visiting the South African nature park with her boyfriend when they stopped to look at some rhinos.
Afrikaans-language newspaper the Beeld reported that guide Alex Richter then advised them to stand a little closer seconds before the animal gored her from behind. He allegedly told a group of visitors to get out of their vehicle to take photos and even encouraged the rhinos to come closer with food.
The photograph shows them only feet away from two white rhinos which can weigh up to two tons and stand as tall as 1.8metres. Just after the picture was taken, a huge bull rhino attacked, and its horn penetrated Ms Beyers' chest from behind, resulting in a collapsed lung and broken ribs.
Ms Beyer, a bachelor of commerce student from Johannesburg, is now in an intensive care unit at a Krugersdorp hospital where she is said to be in stable condition, according to the Daily Telegraph. Mrs Beyer's uncle and family spokesman Thom Peeters told the Beeld: 'There were quite a few young people on the vehicle and they probably felt they could trust Richter, who was an adult.'
South Africa's Aloe Ridge Hotel and Nature Reserve, where the incident took place, declined to comment today.
On the resort's website it lists rhinos as one of a number of animals which visitors can see 'at close range'.
