The couple in their 70s were visiting a famous game reserve when they were killed – police believe they ran into poachers who killed them and dumped their bodies in a crocodile-infested river
A manhunt is underway after two tourists were stabbed to death and their bodied dumped in crocodile-infested waters.
Ernst Marais, 71, and his wife Dina, 73, were visiting the Kruger National Park in north-eastern South Africa when it is believed they ran into poachers at an elephant crossing.
The retired couple were visiting from their coastal home about 1100 miles (roughly 1800kms) away. They were staying near the reserve’s Parfuri Gate in the north of the game park and worry grew when they failed to return to their accommodation on the night of Wednesday, May 20.
The Kruger National Park game reserve is a wildly popular tourist spot for both South Africans and international visitors.
Some one million tourists visit the park annually, many of them British, American and German, hoping to spot the country’s big five: lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceros and buffalos.
The couple’s bodies were found by a group of tourists, who were viewing a herd of elephants crossing at viewing spot. Their bodies were floating in the river.
Crook’s Corner got its name in the 1880s as a small area of “no man’s land” where South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique meet at the confluence of the rivers Limpopo and Luvhuvhu. The small triangle of land was known as a hideout for ivory poachers, gun runners, slave traders and murderers and was avoided as a danger spot for the law.
It is believed that Ernst and Dina’s hands had been tied behind their backs and they had been repeatedly stabbed in the upper body before being dragged to the Limpopo River. The river, nicknamed the “Crocodile River,” is heavily infested with the giant beasts.
South African National Park game rangers and police were called to the scene.
Authorities had already been looking for the couple since they were reported missing on Thursday morning.
A Kruger National Park source said: “It was hoped that they had gone off road and broken down after heavy local floods somewhere but then we got a call to say two bodies had been found.
“They were in the river at Crook’s Corner which has a bit of a notorious reputation and when our rangers got to the scene they pulled the two bodies up onto the riverbank to wait for police.
“Both had been stabbed in what was clearly a very brutal attack and had been thrown into the river no doubt for the crocs and their 4×4 had been stolen so this is a very major incident for us.
“We have never had an incident like this in the history of the Kruger and we are praying that this does not cause a major tourist knee- jerk reaction who decide it is no longer a safe place for them to visit.”
“This is an extremely safe national park and this has shocked us all,” she said.
Police are investigating two counts of murder and one of hijacking. No arrests have been made.
A South African police source said he suspects the couple may have unexpectedly run into a gang of poachers who killed them to prevent them raising the alarm.
South Africa is home to the largest rhino population in the world and a hotspot for poaching the animal for its keratin-rich horn.
Despite efforts by authorities, in which their lives are regularly risked, poaching remains a major issued
Data from South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment showed 352 rhinos were poached in the country from January to December 2025.
The police source said: “Their pick-up truck would have been an easy way to transport anything they were carrying if they were smugglers and there are unfenced ways to get across the river into Mozambique.
“A large manhunt is underway focusing on the assumption they are already out of the Kruger.”
