Believe it or not, hippos are one of the deadliest hippos you can come across. A 63-year-old tourist detailed the horrifying moment a hippo grabbed him in its jaws.
The creatures attacked the tourist while in Zambia, Africa. The British man was visiting Zambia back in June. Roland Cherry was canoeing with his wife, Shirley, on the Kafue River when the attack occurred. The two had been on a five-week camping trip to Southern Africa. However, a couple of weeks in, their fabulous trip turned to a horror movie.
Roland said the hippo lifted their canoe out of the water. While his wife managed to swim to shore, Roland wasn't so lucky. He had dislocated his shoulder in the attack.
"The hippo grabbed me in its jaws and took me under to the bottom of the river. Although I never saw the hippo, I thought that my time was up!" he said on the Just Giving page."When the hippo first hit the canoe, there was a massive crash, much like a car crash really."
The tourist said he wasn't ready to die.
"Thinking 'Oh no, what a way to go... I'm not ready to die' and I thought this was it, because nobody survives hippo attacks," Roland reflected. "We know subsequently from fellow travelers I was grabbed again and thrown through the air like a rag doll but towards the bank which was the godsend."
Hippo Attacked Tourist
Roland reflected on his injuries, saying he was torn open.
"I remember looking down at my legs thinking 'That's not good'. There was bits of flesh sticking out of my torn shorts and blood over my abdomen," he said. "I was badly mauled with severe bite wounds to both my legs and my left side, my left upper arm and a dislocated right shoulder. I was in a very bad way..."
Fortunately, he survived the attack. But he was severely injured and needed help. "As soon as we arrived, this little African hospital swung into action. Without thinking twice or asking for my insurance details, they assessed the hippo damage and whisked me into theater to clean my wounds," Roland recalled on his Just Giving page. "If they hadn't acted so promptly there is a strong likelihood that sepsis would have set in which could have proved fatal. I can think of no better illustration of 'the kindness of strangers.' "
From there, they flew him to Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg.
"While recovering in my hospital bed, I had time to think and reflect on the incident. What struck me most from this near-death experience was the kindness of strangers," Roland said on his Just Giving page. "I vowed that assuming I made it home to Warwickshire I would talk about the incident at a fund-raising event for the Mtendere Mission Hospital and see if we can offer something back to the hospital that had almost certainly saved my life."
