Stormy visit for TV weatherman

A BBC weatherman had more than he bargained for when his tourguide was savaged by hyenas while on honeymoon in southern Africa.

Richard Angwin and his wife Renu were enjoying a safari in theNamibian desert, one week into their three-week honeymoon, when theirtrip turned into a medical rescue.

The couple had got up before dawn in the hope to watch the sunrise on one of the largest sand dunes in the world, when their SouthAfrican tour guide failed to turn up.

Mr Angwin, the weatherman on BBC Points West for the past threeyears, said: "We met our guide's assistant outside our tents.

"He was visibly shaken and told us that our guide had been savagedby a hyena and his ear had been nearly bitten off.

"My wife, who is a doctor, had a look at him and tried to clean uphis ear but we didn't have the right anaesthetics and medical stuff.

"So we decided to drive him to the nearest hospital which is a six-hour drive away across the desert." They made their tour guidecomfortable on the back seat of their car and drove to the nearesthospital, in the town of Swakopmund.

Mrs Angwin, a consultant in Manchester, played down her role.

She said: "All I did was to clean up the wound and give him somepainkillers. But our guide was in a lot of pain and nearly passed outwhen I cleaned up his ear.

"It was nearly hanging off and looked fairly nasty. He was luckythe hyena had not ripped it off but had only damaged the skin aroundthe ear.

"It could have been much worse. He was lucky and very brave."

Mr Angwin, aged 44, and a father-of-two, said: "It was a six-hourjourney across the desert. We only stopped in small desert towns torefuel and phone ahead so they could get ready for our arrival.

"Nothing happens in the desert, so this was big news there. By thetime we reached the hospital, the story had gone out of allproportions and it was a story of a guide who had his head torn offby hyenas.

"It wasn't really what we had hoped for in our second week of ourhoneymoon, but that's what happens when you marry a doctor." MrsAngwin said that despite the medical rescue mission they stillenjoyed their holiday.

She said: "It was a great trip and we were really pleased to seeour guide again."