An African safari turned to tragedy when a woman was tragically attacked. And killed in front of her husband, no less. Now, her family is suing the safari after the tour operator failed to keep her from harm's way.
70-year-old Lisa Manders and her husband Craig were on a dream African safari in Zambia. That's when a hippo attacked and caused her to have catastrophic injuries. Her husband filed a suit against African Portfolio, the company that helped plan the trip. He said that the company failed to convey the dangers that hippos are.
"Had we understood the dangers posed by the hippopotamus, we never would have agreed to be in such close contact while on foot," Craig said in a statement. "The idea that we were unwittingly exposed to such an extreme danger. A danger made even worse by our tour guides leaving Lisa alone on foot with nothing between her and such a deadly animal, is nothing short of astonishing."
The incident happened in 2024 in the middle of a 10-day trip to Zambia. The two went on a bush walk as part of the African safari. Their guides allegedly led them close to the dangerous animal.
Hippo Attacks And Kills Woman On Safari
The lawsuit claims the guides "knew or should have known that the close presence of the wild hippopotamus to participants in the Bush Walk posed an immediate and extreme danger, due to the known tendencies of hippopotami to be highly unpredictable, territorial, and aggressive in such circumstances."
To make matters worse, the guides then left the couple alone with the hippo. The animal suddenly charged and attacked Lisa.
"She was unable to escape. And the hippopotamus violently attacked her. Grabbing her but its mouth. Lifting her off the ground. Shaking her entire body. And crushing her head and body with its bite," the lawsuit said. It claims that the husband and wife weren't warned by the guides about the danger of the hippo.
They call it a preventable tragedy.
"Interacting with the natural world in the wilderness can be an incredibly rich experience,'"Slager of Slager Madry LLC told NBC News. "But wilderness guides and tour operators like African Portfolio carry the responsibility to ensure basic safety precautions are taken to ensure customers visiting the African wilderness are not unnecessarily exposed to extreme dangers."
