A British man has survived an attack by a hippo after the animal collided with 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 during a canoe trip on the Kafue River while on holiday in Zambia with his wife Shirley.
He was trapped between the hippo’s jaws and suffered serious injuries to his thigh and shoulder, and 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 being thrown from the canoe.
“The hippo could have attacked any of us and I can’t help but feel that if the hippo had done that… if it had been me I wouldn’t be here now, so I think Roland took one for the team,” she told the BBC.
Roland Cherry (pictured), 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 during a holiday in Zambia with his wife Shirley.
Roland and Shirley Cherry (pictured) were on safari in a canoe in Zambia when the horrific attack took place in June
He was trapped in the hippo’s jaw and suffered severe injuries to his thigh and shoulder, and a 10-inch wound to his abdomen. His injuries required him to undergo seven surgeries in two weeks
Mrs Cherry managed to swim to the riverbank after being thrown from the canoe. She later said her husband ‘put a punch for the team’ in the hippo attack (file photo of a hippo)
The 10-inch wound Mr. Cherry sustained in the hippo attack is pictured above
Mr Cherry said after the attack that while he did not dislike hippos, he was “not too fond” of the animal that attacked him during his canoe safari.
The experienced canoeist said that when the hippo hit the canoe, there was a “huge bang” and he and his wife were thrown into the water by the impact.
Mr Cherry said his shoulder was dislocated and he was unable to swim to safety, making him an easy target for the hippo, which quickly grabbed him and dragged him to the bottom of the river.
“I remember thinking, ‘Oh no, what a way to go… I’m not ready to die yet’ and I thought that was it, because no one survives a hippo attack,” he told the BBC..
Before he could swim alone to the safety of the shallow water on the riverbank, the animal grabbed him again.
Mr Cherry told the broadcaster: ‘We know from fellow passengers that I was later grabbed again and thrown through the air like a rag doll, but towards the bank, which was a godsend.
“I remember looking down at my legs and thinking, ‘That’s not good.’ There were chunks of flesh sticking out of my ripped shorts and there was blood on my stomach.”
He said that despite being in the hippo’s jaws, he never saw the animal and that he only heard what happened because of eyewitness accounts.
Mr Cherry explained that he remembered his wife Shirley calling out to him and dragging him out of the water with “kind arms” after the hippo launched him towards the riverbank.
The attack took place during the third week of the Cherrys’ dream holiday in southern Africa in June.
Mr Cherry said after the attack that while he didn’t dislike hippos, he was “not too fond” of the animal that attacked him during his canoe safari
The hippo also injured Mr. Cherry’s thigh
The attack took place during the third week of the Cherrys’ dream holiday in southern Africa in June (Shirley is pictured above during the safari holiday)
Roland Cherry and his wife Shirley on holiday at Victoria Falls prior to the hippo attack
Mr Cherry said the local hospital where he was taken immediately after the attack saved his life and has decided to start a fundraiser for the Mtendere Mission Hospital to ‘give something back’ as he is ‘forever indebted to them’.
Doctors in Johannesburg, South Africa, later told Cherry that he likely would not have survived if the hippo’s bite wounds had been any deeper.
He said the nurses said they had never seen anyone survive a hippo attack as in most cases the victims die.
Mr Cherry said the local hospital where he was taken immediately after the attack saved his life and has decided to start a fundraiser for the Mtendere Mission Hospital to ‘give something back’ as he is ‘forever indebted to them’.
On his JustGiving page he wrote: ‘What touched me most about this near-death experience was the kindness of strangers.
‘I promised that, assuming I could make it home to Warwickshire, I would talk about the incident at a fundraiser for the Mtendere Mission Hospital and see if we could give something back to the hospital, which had almost certainly saved my life.’