A 27-year-old safari guide in Zimbabwe has recounted the terrifying moment he was swallowed whole by a two-ton hippopotamus during a kayak tour on the Zambezi River. Paul Templer, who owned a business taking clients near Victoria Falls, survived the attack but lost his left arm after the bull hippo mauled him repeatedly.
The incident occurred when Templer and three apprentice guides were leading clients in kayaks. The bull hippo, which Templer had encountered before, suddenly attacked, flinging one apprentice out of his boat. Templer paddled to rescue the man but was engulfed in darkness as the hippo swallowed him up to his waist.
Trapped in the hippo's mouth, Templer described a sulphurous smell and tremendous pressure on his chest. He managed to free a hand and felt the bristles on the hippo's snout, realising his predicament. He wriggled free when the hippo opened its jaws, but the animal struck again, dragging him underwater and mauling him, leaving almost 40 puncture wounds.
After being thrown into the air and shaken like a doll, Templer and the hippo sank to the river bottom. He recalled looking up through 10 feet of water, wondering who could hold their breath longer. The hippo eventually surfaced and spat him out. An apprentice named Mike paddled him to safety and sealed chest wounds with a snack wrapper, preventing lung collapse.
Templer was rushed to hospital where surgeons saved his right arm and leg, but his left arm was amputated. The apprentice Evans was found dead two days later. The hippo evaded capture. Templer believes he encountered the same animal two years later on another expedition, when a huge hippo lunged at his canoe before disappearing.
