Hippo gives these anglers an unexpected fright!
Africa is filled with amazing fishing opportunities. There are lots of large, predatory fish to target in the continent's freshwater lakes and rivers, making for the fishing trip of a lifetime. The only thing is, Africa is filled with some of the largest and most dangerous land animals on Earth.
One you need to be especially cautious of is the hippopotamus. These large mammals are incredible swimmers, and they spend most of their time in water. They are also extremely territorial to anything and everything that gets in their personal space.
Hippos are among the world's most dangerous animals because of that. Case in point is this footage out of Tanzania. These anglers are just trying to enjoy an afternoon of fishing when a hippo suddenly, and unexpectedly, bumps their boat from underwater. The force of the jolt nearly knocks them both into the river's murky waters.
This was one of the most frightening fishing videos we have ever seen. Just put yourself in the shoes of those guys and imagine how terrifying it must have been to suddenly have the boat almost knocked out from under you? If that is not a pants-soiling moment, we do not know what is. That attack came out of absolutely nowhere.
That is why you should always be cautious on or standing near the water in Africa. There were absolutely zero signs that animal was beneath the surface. That is a true testament to the hippo's underwater swimming abilities.
We had to laugh a little bit about how casually the one guy pulls out a gun and starts shooting at the water. It seems he may have dealt with hippos on the water before considering how calm and collected he was after the boat had been hit. The shots were not meant to ward off the hippo, only scare it away.
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For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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