An African safari guide faced an assault from an aggressive behemoth. The creature nearly engulfed the individual, yet he lived.
Man talks about hippopotamus attack / © Associated Press
Paul Templer, a tour leader along the Zambezi River in Africa, suffered an attack from a hippo in proximity to Victoria Falls.
Mirror.co.uk reports on this incident.
The man stated he was conducting a tour when the hippo assaulted him. Paul mentions having knowledge of the animal and attempting to evade it, but the hippo still attacked.
Another guide, Evans, toppled from his kayak as the two-ton animal surfaced from the water. Paul immediately yelled for the others to make for the nearest rocks before going back to assist.
As Paul endeavored to rescue Evans, the hippopotamus initiated the act of swallowing him.
“There existed a ghastly sulfurous stench, akin to decaying eggs. I succeeded in liberating a single hand and felt around, my palm traveling across the rigid bristles of the hippo’s snout,” the guide recounted.
Paul found himself waist-deep inside the creature’s mouth. He managed a brief escape as the hippopotamus opened its jaws, but the animal surged forward anew and dragged him back beneath the surface.
Subsequently, the hippopotamus commenced to brutally wound the man.
“It would hurl me into the air and then recapture me, thrashing me like a canine shaking a toy,” Paul remembers.
He was eventually saved through driving the hippopotamus away. The man was discovered to have significant injuries.
By chance, the medical personnel were close by and aided him in remaining alive long enough for transport to the hospital.
Surgeons cautioned Paul regarding the potential necessity of amputating both arms and a portion of his leg. Ultimately, he lost his left arm, but he endured.
Fellow guide Evans was not so fortunate. His corpse was recovered two days later, further downstream.
Source: tsn.ua