A Zululand tragedy

THIS memorial is placed here to commemorate the life of Tracey Leigh Hunt, whose earthly life ended here on the 8th day of December 2000.

‘You are a source of life to all those whose lives you have touched. You will be with us forever.’

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So reads the brass plaque on a concrete pillar standing alone on a peaceful corner of St Lucia town, next to the estuary.

Below those sad words is the etched image of a beautiful young woman.

The details of what transpired on this forlorn spot 20 years ago, is indeed tragic.

Young romance Tracey Hunt (22) and her boyfriend Claudio Celestino (27), arrived in St Lucia on the evening of Friday, 8 December 2000, after a long drive from Johannesburg.

The young couple was booked into a guesthouse for what was supposed to be a romantic weekend getaway.

They had met a month before in a restaurant in Village Walk, Sandton, and he later told a reporter, ‘It was the beginning of something beautiful’.

Claudio had visited St Lucia the previous April, also just for a weekend, and the young Jo’burg stockbroker thought the picturesque little holiday town to be the perfect romantic retreat.

That night Tracey and Claudio went for dinner at a restaurant in town, and afterwards decided to go for a midnight swim at the beach.

Stood no chance

Not familiar with the town’s surrounding areas and it being dark, the couple ended up at what they presumed to be the ocean, but what was in fact a parking area next to the estuary.

The actual sea shore was still almost another kilometre away and only reachable by foot.

Claudio described the scene: ‘We sat staring at the water. It was a clear full moon. It was as if it was daylight’.

He later claimed they were under the impression it was the ocean, and with no one else around, decided to enter the water.

Unaware of the great risk, the couple waded into the crocodile infested estuary until only their heads were visible, but it was on their way out that the reptile struck.

Claudio told the reporter that Tracey was in knee deep water when she suddenly said, ‘Ouch!’

She was only a few metres away. ‘When she fell into the water her arm was stretched out.

She was looking at me and it was as if she was waving to me.

‘I stepped towards her to try and grab her hand.

She didn’t stand a chance. It was like she was never there.’

Honeymoon Bend

According to Claudio, the crocodile that took Tracey was about 3.5m long, and after it disappeared with her, he jumped in his car and rushed to the guesthouse for help.

The manager called the police and they went back to search for her.

While police and wildlife officers were out searching the area by boat, they spotted eight crocodiles, but saw no sign of the young woman.

About 36 hours later Tracey’s torso and legs were found, 1.5km from where she was taken, by fishermen at a place upstream called Honeymoon Bend.

The concrete memorial was erected by Tracey’s family at Honeymoon Bend, and besides keeping her memory alive, they also intended for it to serve as a warning.

Below the brass plaque with her name and face is a second one with a message in bold capital lettering: ‘DANGER! BEWARE OF CROCODILES IN THIS RIVER AND THE SURROUNDING AREA!’

It’s a message not to be taken lightly and applies to all open water areas in Zululand because, just four days after Tracey died, another woman, Sizakele Manyoni (47), was taken by a crocodile on the bank of the Nseleni River.

*When in St Lucia, why not pick some flowers growing along the forest’s edge and visit Tracey Hunt’s memorial, to remember a young life lost? The Honeymoon Bend turn-off is 50m past the Eden Park campsite gate on your way to the beach, and her memorial stone 700m further at the following GPS coordinates: 28°23’14.9″S 32°24’17.1″E.

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