Ashley Judd shatters leg after tripping over fallen tree in the Congo

Ashley Judd shatters leg in Congolese rainforest

Credit: Jae C Hong/AP

Ashley Judd is being treated in hospital for a shattered tibia after tripping over a fallen tree in the Congo.

Ms Judd, 52, who suffered “massive catastrophic injuries", said she endured “an incredibly harrowing 55 hours” before she reached an operating table in South Africa for treatment.

The actress and environmental activist was in the Congo undertaking a research project on bonobos, endangered primates also known as pygmy chimpanzees.

"Accidents happen — and there was a fallen tree on the path which I didn’t see and I had a very powerful stride going and I just fell over this tree," she told New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in an interview.

"As I was breaking my leg, I knew it was being broken." She was left in agony on the ground for five hours.

Ms Judd said she was "howling like a wild animal."

She spent 90 minutes in a hammock before being carried out of the rainforest by barefoot Congolese members of the expedition.

Instagram post by Ashley Judd describing her ordeal

Holding the two parts of her broken tibia in place, Ms Judd was transported to a trauma unit by motorcycle.

She was initially treated in a hut before being flown to Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

After 24 hours she was flown to South Africa to be treated in an intensive care unit. Ms Judd acknowledged that her privilege enabled her to pay for the ride to take her to safety.

"The difference between a Congolese person and me is disaster insurance that allowed me 55 hours after my accident to get to an operating table in South Africa," she said.

Ms Judd, who starred in Double Jeopardy, was one of the first women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment.

Instagram post by Ashley Judd