14 DAY TRIAL // A tour guide swallowed in a hippo attack has managed to get out and document the horrifying experience.
Paul Templer has detailed his run-in with the animal in an “Experience” blog for the Guardian. In March of 1996, he was swallowed while working as a tour guide on the Zambezi River, bringing tourists in the area by kayak.
He approached a hippo known for its aggressive nature when he saw a co-worker's kayak lying on the animal's back. The hippo launched itself at him and he was swallowed up in instants.
“I was aware that my legs were surrounded by water, but my top half was almost dry. I seemed to be trapped in something slimy. There was a terrible, sulphurous smell, like rotten eggs, and a tremendous pressure against my chest,” he describes being inside the animal.
He recalls not realizing he was in the hippo's stomach at first. At one point he was battling it above ground, then he felt “engulfed in darkness.”
“There was no transition at all, no sense of approaching danger. It was as if I had suddenly gone blind and deaf,” he says.
He was attacked twice, managing to break free from the hippo's jaws the first time. He felt as if he was being targeted but was able to make it back a second time.
“I managed to escape. I swam towards Evans, but the hippo struck again, dragging me back under the surface,” he recounts.
The other guide he was with helped him after he emerged from the water a second time. He was badly injured, having suffered fractures, lung punctures and severe wounds to his chest and back.
“The hippo lurched suddenly for the surface, spitting me out as it rose. Mike was still waiting for me in his kayak and managed to paddle me to safety. I was a mess.
“My left arm was crushed to a pulp, blood poured from the wounds in my chest and when he examined my back, Mike discovered a wound so savage that my lung was visible,” he details.