WATCH | Couple weds days after crocodile bites off bride's arm in Zimbabwe

Former Zimbabwean professional tennis player Zanele Ndlovu wasn’t about to let a minor thing like a crocodile ripping off her arm delay her wedding.

Ndlovu and her husband-to-be, British charity worker Jamie Fox, were paddling down the Zambezi River on 30 April, near Victoria Falls, when the predator struck.

“It jumped out of the water and bit a chunk of my right arm together with the side of the canoe which started deflating and it all just happened so fast," Ndlovu told the Mirror.

The crocodile pulled her into the water and Fox was thrown over the other side of the boat. He quickly swam to her rescue, grabbing her waist as he "rained blows down on the crocodile”. 

Local guides who witnessed the attack joined in the rescue and they were able to pull her to safety.

She was flown by emergency helicopter to a hospital in Victoria Falls, however the damage was so extensive that they had to transfer her to a more specialised care unit in Bulawayo.

Doctors were unable to save her arm.

While this might deter most brides, Ndlovu was determined she would still have her wedding day.

"We were glad we still had our lives and managed to keep our wedding date, although we had to do with a much smaller venue,” Fox told The Telegraph.

Ndlovu told Zimbabwe’s Chronicle that she got depressed by people who would approach her and start crying. “I know people feel pity for me in this situation, but feeling sorrowful doesn’t help the situation.”

A witness told the Daily Mail that it was a remarkable love story. “Their feelings and love for each other are even stronger than before if anything.”

Last month a tourist lost his arm after he jumped into a crocodile pool at a pub in Victoria Falls town.