Up until the last few horrifying seconds, that day in early December was one of the best of Ben Stookesberry’s life.
A hard tropical rainstorm fell, but that only added to the charm as Stookesberry, a Greeley native who graduated from Greeley West in 1997, reveled in the comradeship of a friend he’d known for seven years, Chris Korbulic, and a man he’d known for seven weeks, Hendrik Coetzee, who was 35.
The morning was a culmination of their efforts to explore the White Nile in central Africa. Stookesberry had made his living on such trips.
After lunch, Coetzee and Korbulic got ahead of Stookesberry’s kayak. When they waved to him a bit urgently to come up, he knew that meant the two had seen a few small crocodiles, about a meter long, slip into the river. Stookesberry wasn’t too worried. Animals were always a danger. He had dodged Bengal tigers, anacondas and electric eels in the past.
Just a couple minutes later, Korbulic saw a flash emerge from the water.
Stookesberry heard Coetzee say, “My God,” and looked over to see a massive crocodile grabbing his left shoulder. The water churned — Stookesberry said it was “going crazy” — and the crocodile tipped Coetzee over.
In just a few seconds after the croc emerged, the water boiled over, then settled. They never saw the crocodile or Coetzee again.
The two returned to the U.S. a week ago, on Dec. 17, and did some interviews. Wednesday, they were on the “Today” show. But those first days after the attack they spent in Uganda, where Coetzee lived, and talked with his close friends.
“That was a crucial bit of healing,” Stookesberry said, “just to hear and speak about him. We were so lucky to have the support we did.”
