A ‘heroic’ wife who tried to save her husband after he was attacked and dragged off by a lion has spoken out about the terrifying ordeal for the first time.
Conny Kebbel, 57, was on a wildlife expedition camp in northern Namibia with her businessman husband Bernd, 59, last month when a starved lion pounced on him and killed him.
The father-of-two, who had climbed down a ladder from his rooftop tent mounted on the top of a 4 x 4 to use the bathroom in the early hours of the morning, was suddenly grabbed by the predator – a lioness called Charlie.
The ferocious roar of the animal and the cries of her desperate husband as the lioness grabbed him by the neck and dragged him into the bushes alerted Mrs Kebbel, who was still sleeping in the rooftop tent.
Speaking about her husband’s tragic death, Mrs Kebbel described how he had left his tent at around 1.30am, when she suddenly heard a sound.
‘It was as if he was surprised and then a lion [began] growling.
‘I looked out of the tent and saw a lioness had grabbed Bernd by his head,’ she said as she relived the horror of the attack.
Mrs Kebbel bravely rushed out of the tent and began hitting the lioness in the face with a satellite pole she had ripped off from a vehicle in an attempt to get the wild cat away from her husband.
The incredible bravery of a heroic wife who fought single-handedly to drag a starving lioness off her husband to save him from being eaten has been told for the first time
Businessman and wealthy philanthropist Bernd Kebbel, 59 (pictured), who spent large sums of money supporting the Namibian desert lions, was killed in the Kunene Region by one of the predators on Friday morning after leaving his tent to use the toilet
The 12-year-old lioness is said to have been on her last legs, skeletal and starving
A man who was on the expedition with the couple also rushed to Mr Kebbel’s rescue and managed to hit the predator in the head with a small torch, scaring the animal away before it could devour her victim.
But nothing could be done to save the keen outdoorsman who was killed almost instantly in the savage attack.
Charlie disappeared behind the bushes, but she then returned and ‘continued to mock charge the group coming in from different directions’.
‘Everybody fled into the cars because Charlie was posing a threat to us all’, Mrs Kebbel continued.
The tragedy happened during a desert trip in the Kunene Region where a group of six adults and six children travelling in three 4 x 4’s had stopped to make camp.
The night after Mr Kebbel’s violent death, Charlie attacked another group nearby.
A video was posted on social media of the damage she had caused to their tents as she tried to slash and bite its way inside.
Following the horrific ordeal, officials of the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism shot Charlie dead as she took a break under a bush.
Conny Kebbel, who shares two children with her late husband, said: ‘We are not angry. We have found peace. We did not want Charlie to die. It happened at a place we and Bernd loved.’
A spokesman said: ‘The animal had become habituated and used to humans and was posing an ongoing threat to community members and tourists so a difficult decision was made’.
Conny Kebbel, who shares two children with her late husband, said: ‘We are not angry. We have found peace. We did not want Charlie to die. It happened at a place we and Bernd loved.’
A lion expert who has known Bernd and Conny Kebbel for over 10 years hailed her amazing bravery in taking on a lion killing her husband alone and unarmed.
The tour guide who leads expeditions in the NW Namibiian deserts said: ‘Conny has become part of folklore as who in their right takes on a lioness and lives.
‘It is all anyone is talking about around the bush fires at night.
‘She was said to have been screaming at it like a dervish and grabbed its leather collar and was physically hauling this thing more than twice her weight off Bernd.
‘Her screams carried to the two other tents and another man bravely joined her in taking on the lioness armed only with a torch and battered it over the head.
‘The lioness was shocked at being attacked and retreated but not far and tried to get back to her ‘kill’ a number of times but was driven back each time it came.
‘The only thing they could do was get Bernd aboard a vehicle and away from there.’
The lion expert added that the ‘bravery of Conny is all that anyone is talking about right now’.
The 12-year-old lioness is said to have been on her last legs, skeletal and starving.
Photos of the animal taken just weeks before showed her bony body, suggesting she had not killed to feed for a long time.
It is believed that her natural fear of human beings was overcome by hunger and she crept into the camp in which Mr Kebbel and his wife and their friends were camping out in.
Mr Kebbel, who was originally from Germany, was a wealthy philanthropist who had spent large sums of money supporting Namibian desert lions.
He also worked closely supporting the Desert Lion Project with donations and fitting out their research vehicles.
Charlie was part of the three ‘famous’ orphan cub sisters of the Skeleton Coast who starred in an award-winning documentary on their incredible survival broadcast worldwide.
Namibia has about 800 desert lions left with half in the National Park at Etosha and the rest scattered in the boiling heat and drought of one of the world’s most inhospitable areas.
There are about 38,000 free roaming lions left in Africa mostly in conservation areas and the Namibian Ministry of the Environment & Tourist estimates they have just 800 left.
Every year in Africa lions are estimated to kill about 250 people.
Conservation groups are warning tourists only to camp in designated sites managed by the local communities for safety but to also help protect lions like Charlie.
One conservationist said: ‘The loss of a human life, an irreplaceable lioness and part of Namibia’s tourism and nature legacy, is mourned and may Charlie’s story serve as a lasting reminder that true admiration of nature begins with respect and distance’.