An Underberg dairy farmer, stabbed in an attack that claimed his wife's life at the Hluleka Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape, has not yet been discharged from hospital.

His brother-in-law, Ian Crouch, told TimesLIVE that Matthew Turner was expected to be "discharged on Wednesday at the earliest".

"He is in a lot of pain, although he is now in the general ward. He can walk but doctors are afraid of him contracting an infection. He is also shattered. He is not doing well emotionally," Crouch said on Monday.

Turner underwent surgery to remove a part of his intestine that was injured.

The funeral service of his 33-year-old pregnant wife Karen has been scheduled for Friday in Underberg.

The two were stabbed while sleeping in a chalet in the Hluleka Nature Reserve at 3am last Tuesday. Their 23-month-old son, Hayden, was unharmed in the attack.

Crouch, who is Karen's brother, said Hayden was asking for his mother.

"He spent the weekend with us. I just dropped him off at Matthew's parents. When he is hungry, upset or sleeping, he cries for his mom. But I think that's normal. He is too young to understand what has happened."

The trio had booked into the Eastern Cape resort a week ago to attend a wedding.

Karen celebrated her birthday just hours before the attack.

Her body arrived in KwaZulu-Natal last Thursday. Matthew was airlifted from a local Eastern Cape hospital to Pietermaritzburg and transferred from the ICU unit to a general ward last Friday.

He told family members that two intruders were behind the attack.

Police spokesperson Capt Dineo Koena said on Monday that no arrests had been made.