It has made the country one of the most desirable and exclusive tourist destinations in Africa. That proximity is Botswana's drawing card. There are no fences to keep animals away from campsites and no guards to chase away the lions or hippopotamuses that wander into camp by night. Garrit and his mother chose a three-week trip specifically in Botswana because safaris here, unlike those in most other African countries, offer unobstructed access to wild animals.
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He heard that hyenas' feces are white because the carnivores have such strong jaws that they crack open bones and consume the marrow. He learned that hippos sometimes yawn to show off their large teeth and intimidate. Garrit studied the animals with a naturalist's eye. Last summer, Garrit, older brother Bradford and their mother spent three weeks on safari in Kenya and Zimbabwe. His passion for animals also extended to more exotic varieties. At his mother's home - his parents are divorced - Garrit cared for a menagerie diverse enough to pass for a pet store: two emus, 10 cats, three dogs, a lizard named Lucky and a pair of cockatiels he had received on his first birthday. Shea of Lutherville, Garrit kept his collection of fossils, arrowheads and a prized sperm whale tooth. Botswana's record is one side effect of the niche the country has made for itself in the safari trade.īy his parents' account, Garrit was a bright child who was particularly attached to the natural world.Īt the home of his father, Mark R. That is more than the number of tourists killed in animal attacks this year in South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe combined, though those countries have 10 times the number of tourists.
Garrit is one of at least four tourists killed on safari in Botswana this year. Though Garrit and his mother had been on safari elsewhere in Africa and understood the dangers wild animals posed, it is clear that neither was aware that more tourists on safari are attacked and killed by animals in Botswana than any other country. "An 11-year-old boy killed by a pack of hyenas in a Botswana game reserve believed them to be harmless creatures of one of his favorite cartoon films," said the Johannesburg Sunday Times. News accounts in southern Africa portrayed Garrit as the archetype of the wildlife-ignorant Westerner. Tour operators here describe the incident as a cautionary tale of another foreigner who failed to appreciate the dangers inherent in a safari and fell victim to the animals he came to admire. Such attacks are not unprecedented in the safari world. Lions roared from the darkness, announcing their approach.Ībout a dozen men armed with flashlights, oil lanterns and pocket knives guarded Garrit's remains until an evacuation helicopter arrived. Hyenas crept closer to try to retrieve their kill. For the animals, this was just another night's hunt. Smelling the kill, nocturnal carnivores were descending on the campsite. Too scared to guard Garrit's body alone, Montague called on his radio for reinforcements from nearby camps and lodges. But in real time, it was over in just a few minutes. They continued the pursuit until the hyena abandoned Garrit's remains about 100 yards from his tent. The leader of the pack, a female with an identifying scar on her forehead, pulled Garrit farther away. They gunned the engine and tried to hit the hyena and force it to drop Garrit. With headlights and moonlight to guide them, the pair came upon Garrit in the jaws of a hyena.
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Wildlife guide Matthew Montague, a heavyset 29-year-old who had received his license as a guide a year before, had no gun because of Botswana's strict gun-control laws, so he jumped in his Land Rover, picked up another guide nearby for help and followed the sounds into the brush. Safari staff members awoke to her calls for help and the sounds of animals. His shrieks woke his mother in her tent eight yards away.
But just after midnight the pack grabbed the 70-pound boy by his neck and head and dragged him from his bed into the dusty scrub nearby. It is unclear how the hyenas got into 11-year-old Garrit's canvas tent.
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