26/02/2026
Aqua Park Bee attack on Tuesday the 24th of February 2026. A normal day in evergreen Tzaneen that turned into a horror show within seconds.
We were halfway through our work at a client’s garden in Aqua Park when out of nowhere a swarm of bees packed down on us.
We tried to get into the bakkie but it was instantly covered in bees. We could not get to the gate remote or put our petrol machines off as they were just instantly covered in hundreds of bees.
We ran to the swimming pool as it was the furthest point away from the bee hive that was located in a neighbor’s yard next to us. There were no isolated areas for us to go for refuge and we couldn’t get out the gate.
As we got into the swimming pool, I instructed my staff to come stand in the shallow end where their feet can touch the pool floor as they were battling to swim with all the panic. Not to dive under water as the bees were just waiting for us to come back up and then just continue attacking , but to splash water up in the air instead so we could keep our heads above water to breath while keeping the attacking bees at bay. This seemed to have worked for some time and we thought we were in the clear to wait for the bees to calm down and move away. But the swarm of surrounded us just kept growing bigger and darker.
Stung multiple times already and in excruciating pain all over our body’s. Exhausted from swimming and splashing while it was really difficult to breath due to constant water in our faces.
Panic kicked in at the neighboring pre-school right next to us as the bees started attacking the children. My staff went from staying calm to complete panic and when I looked up, I couldn’t see the sky anymore. My eyes glazed around us while still splashing water and kicking my legs to keep my head above the water but all I could see around us was a thick black cloud of bees.
I then realized this swarm of bees was not just one bee hive colony but more bees from surrounding bee hives were all coming together surrounding us. I thought to myself “there are too many of them, we are not going to be able to wait them out. We are already exhausted. We are not going to get out of this swimming pool alive”. We needed help immediately and we didn’t have much time. I started shouting out for help hoping surrounding neighbors would hear my cries and call emergency services or someone to come save us but I also realized help was not going to be there in time to save us.
The two dogs were with us and covered in bees. I tried to help them but I constantly ended up under water with the dog on top of me and then a staff member on top of me pushing me under water. I then realized I was drowning. I had to leave the dogs and get my head above water. The dogs then ran off luring most the bees away from us back to the front of the yard. At point we were busy drowning and if the dogs did not run off at that moment with the bees following them, we would have died. My staff got out the swimming pool and started running around back and forth, in and out the pool looking for help and a way out. I suggested they check if they could find a isolated room for themselves and if they did they should stay quietly in there and close everything. They ran into a room and I couldn’t see them anymore. But they did shout out to me that they were isolated and ok.
I battled to get to the side of the pool with the pool water now simply just floating bees all around. The pool was completely black due to all the bees in the water stinging me as I struggled to swim trough them to get out. My whole body felt like jelly due to exhaustion of the struggle. I was gasping for air. Still constantly being stung by bees. I managed to get myself to a room opposite side of where my staff were and I then realized these rooms were not isolated enough. There were gaps in the wooden plank walls and bees were coming in trough those gaps.
Close to the house now I shouted out to the housekeeper in the main house. Knowing she can’t do anything to help us herself without becoming another person that would need rescuing. I asked her to call my client and tell them we need help getting evacuated from the premises and emergency medical care. That we are in the rooms at the back of the house with no way out. We have been stung multiple times and we are going into shock. She responded back to me and I could hear in her voice she was terrified and in panic not knowing how to help us. I could tell she is moving towards the front of the house by the sound of her voice fading as she rushed to a phone to call for help.
We heard a car hooting at the front of the house and then I heard my staff bolting out the room running back to the front of the yard. I shouted at them to stay where they are until we have confirmation that the gate is open and we have a way out but while they were running, they were calling out my name not hearing me call out to them. Everything went silent besides the humming sound of the bees outside. I called out to the lady in the house for confirmation on what was going on, but she too was not responsive this time.
During all this I regained some strength and could catch my breath, but I could feel my adrenalin falling away and my body falling into shock faster. I knew I couldn’t stay there I had to run after my staff back to the front of the yard and see if I can get to the gate remote or ram the gate with the bakkie to get everyone out. I was terrified of going back out that door into the swarm of bees that awaited outside. Not knowing if my staff got out, where they were and if they ok. I had to go find them.
I flung the door open and I just ran scanning for my staff as fast as I possibly could. As I got to the front I noticed the clients car covered in bees, the gate was standing open and my bakkies windows wide open with a staff member inside the bakkie covered in bees. He was non responsive but I je**ed him out of the bakkie and ran with him knowing I had to get him out of there and to a hospital immediately. My client stopped outside where we could get to the car and I pulled my staff member into the car with me and sked the client “where is my other staff member”?
My client said he already ran out the gate and he was fully responsive. Ambulances are on their way looking for him and neighbors are all looking for him to get him to a hospital. My client said he will also come back for my other staff member but we need to get this staff member that is non responsive to the nearest hospital right now.
During the drive to hospital my staff member was in and out of consciousness. Calling my name asking me not to leave him. Convincing himself that he was busy dying while I was keeping him awake and telling him we are out and on our way to hospital. “Just hold on we are almost there, don’t you give up on me. You keep fighting, you hear me, you keep fighting. We are going to be ok. You are not dying today, we are all going to be ok”. He asked about the other staff member and I said he is also out and he ran off but they are looking for him to bring him to hospital to get treated. During all this we were still covered in bees. There were bees in the car with us on the way to hospital. We opened the windows for the bees to go out but some still remained in the car with us.
At hospital my staff member got non responsive again and I again had to pull him out of the car onto his feet and onto the stretcher fearing he will fall into a coma. The hospital staff first had to clear the bees off him, they were still flying out the car too. They rushed him into emergency where he received immediately treated. The Dr did not leave his side until he was stable and fully responsive.
I got confirmation that my other staff member was also found and helped by a neighbor. That he was taken by ambulance to another hospital for medical care.
I later got informed that my staff attempted to isolate and fumigate the bakkie out of desperation to escape from the bees. But they ended up suffocating themselves in the bakkie with fumes witch is why they had to reopen the windows again for air with bees just flooding the inside of the bakkie and attacking them again. It was also confirmed that there are various bee hives in neighboring properties surrounding our clients garden where we were trapped that explained why the black cloud of bees kept growing bigger.
Everyone that shared witness to this nightmare are still shaken by the trauma of it all. Myself and one staff member is ok, but my other staff member had a rocky recovery after we were all released from hospital and he had to go back to a Dr again. He is currently doing much better.
We would like to thank everyone who helped in this crazy tragedy of bee attack. But the three of us all share broken hearted tears with the family who lost both their beloved dogs due to this tragedy. They will always be remembered not just by the family but by us to.
It angers me how the issue of bee attacks like this get raised by us, by serrounding community members who need to live there, by other general workers, drum and refuge removal services. Yeat someone needs to daie before action gets taken. Yeat property owners think it's a joke everytime someone gets stung by bees from their properties.
I urge you to please use profecional bee handlers to rehome thise bee hives. I will not tolerate risking our lives working in danderous investments like this. You are very welcome to clean your own property's and risk your own lifes. Just because we work as general workers dose not make our lifes less segnificant than your lifes. We have familie and loved once too. We are apart of the community too. We are people just like you.
Yes one propertie owner t**e immediate action consirning Tuesday's tragedy. And I thank those people for stepping up and doing sumthing about it. But we are still waiting on answers about the rest of the hives in that area as we had verious hives attacking us at the same time witch nearly killed us. I do not know how we were so blessed to walke out of there alive with a black clouded sworm of bees that big serrounding us. We were not serpose to servife a attack that big exposed with no shaltor. It angers me that this family's two most loving dogs had to pay the price for serounding neibours neglectans of public safety for their serrounding community in that street.
