A BUILDER single-handedly fought off three lions this week in the town of Marloth Park, which is in a game reserve near Malelane in Mpumalanga. Speaking from hospital on Saturday, Thomas Hlatswayo (22) said he was cycling along a road at on Wednesday night when he spotted three lions. Hlatswayo was carrying firewood tied in a bundle and swung it as a weapon as the lions approached him. One ran at him and caught his left hand. Then he saw a police van coming down the road. “I shouted a lot and swung the wood around and around until the bakkie stopped and the police let me in and took me to hospital,” Hlatswayo said. He is being treated for a severe bite to his hand as well as gash in his left thigh. Two Marloth Park workers were attacked by lions while cycling in the bush late last year.