The Hippo Slammed Into Their Canoe. It Wasn't Done

UK tourist says he's thankful to have survived attack in Zambia
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 26, 2024 8:35 AM CDT
Man 'Thrown Through the Air Like a Rag Doll' in Hippo Attack
Stock photo of a hippo.   (Getty Images/abzerit)

Hippos are seeing somewhat of a popularity boost lately thanks to internet star Moo Deng, but one British tourist will probably be fine if he doesn't see one for a while. The BBC reports on a trip to southern Africa that Warwickshire resident Roland Cherry took in June with his wife that included a guided canoe safari on Zambia's Kafue River. The couple were floating down the waterway when a hippo slammed into their vessel, "much like a car crash," Roland Cherry tells the broadcaster. That's when the canoe "reared up in the air," tossing both Cherry and his spouse into the water.

Shirley Cherry somehow managed to get to shore, but her husband's shoulder had dislocated, making it hard for him to swim with just one functional arm. As the hippo snatched him and dragged him under the surface, Roland Cherry thought to himself, "Oh no, what a way to go ... I'm not ready to die." He managed to briefly escape, but the hippo wasn't done. "I was grabbed again and thrown through the air like a rag doll," he says, adding that that final hurl put him closer to people on a nearby boat, who ended up pulling him to safety. The BBC notes that Cherry found out later the hippo had been a mama protecting her calf.

In addition to the dislocated shoulder, Cherry was also hurt on his thigh and suffered a 10-inch wound on his abdomen—a lucky break, considering nurses at the hospital he was taken to told him they'd never met a survivor of a hippo attack. The couple are now raising money for the hospital as thanks for tending to him. "They've given me ... a second chance at life and I need to give back to them," he says. He's hoping to raise more than $25,000 so that the hospital can buy new medical equipment, per the Guardian. As for his newfound nemesis, Cherry tells the BBC, "I don't hate hippos, despite one attacking me." (More hippopotamus stories.)

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