A British man has survived a hippo attack after the beast smashed into his canoe during a safari.
Roland Cherry, 63, from Warwickshire, said the hippo threw him through the air ‘like a rag doll’ after it dragged him underwater while he was on a canoe trip on the Kafue River while on holiday in Zambia with his wife Shirley.
He ended up wedged between the hippo’s jaws and suffered major injuries to his thigh and shoulder as well as a 10-inch wound to his abdomen. His injuries required seven surgeries in two weeks.
Mrs Cherry managed to swim to the river bank after she was thrown off the canoe.
‘The hippo could have attacked any one of us and I can’t help feeling if the hippo had… if it had been me, I wouldn’t be here now, so I think Roland took one for the team,’ she told the BBC.
Mr Cherry said after the attack that while he didn’t hate hippos, he was ‘not very fond’ of the animal who attacked him during his canoe safari.
The experienced canoeist said that when the hippo hit the canoe, there was a ‘massive crash’ and the impact caused him and his wife to be thrown into the water.
Mr Cherry said that his shoulder was dislocated and he was unable to swim to safety, so he was a ‘sitting duck’ for the hippo, which swiftly grabbed him and dragged him to the bottom of the river.
