Forget hyenas, forget leopards, forget even lions - ask any expert and they'll tell you that Africa's most dangerous mammal is the hippo.
Whilst many mistakenly perceive them as adorable and harmless, the hippo is a fiercely territorial and frequently aggressive animal, possessing the most powerful bite in the animal kingdom and the capability to outswim humans in water and outpace them on land.
This was something Zambezi River tour guide Paul Templer discovered the hard way when he was attacked by a hippo near the iconic Victoria Falls whilst leading a group of tourists.
Although only 27-years-old, Templer was an experienced guide, and even recognised the enormous bull hippo as it approached him, though that didn't prevent the creature launching a savage attack.
"The hippo who tried to kill me wasn't a stranger," Paul told the Guardian. "I'd learned to avoid him. Hippos are territorial and I knew where he was most likely to be at any given time.",reports the Mirror.
Paul says the hippo charged without warning and with extraordinary speed.
"The solid whack I felt behind me took me by surprise," he recalled.
Another of the guides, Evans, was thrown from his kayak as the two-tonne animal surged out of the water. Paul immediately shouted for the others to head for nearby rocks before turning back to help.
The moment he reached out to try and grab Evans' hand, he describes everything going completely black.
"There was no transition at all," Paul said. "It was as if I had suddenly gone blind and deaf."
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
