Man held captive inside hippo’s throat as it tears through flesh – then miracle happens

Paul Templer was working as a safari guide in Zimbabwe when he was attacked by an enormous 15ft hippopotamus and prepared to die – before an unexpected miracle happened

A safari guide who survived a terrifying encounter with a colossal 15ft hippo has shared the surprising feeling he experienced when held captive inside the beast’s throat.

Paul Templer, with around six years of guiding under his belt, expected to spend the day leading a small safari tour of six people down the Zambezi river in his native Zimbabwe. Instead, he was rushed to hospital after being attacked by a hippo lurking beneath the water.

While Paul had also had run-ins with elephants and lions while working in the African wilderness, no interaction had proven as terrifying as the day he came face to face with a hippo. The animals, known to have the deadliest bite force, have been known to attack humans in the past.

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Speaking on the What It Was Like podcast, reports the Daily Star, Paul described the moment he came face to face with the hippo. He said: “A fully grown bull hippo might grow to be 15 feet long, maybe 5 feet tall and weigh up to, say, 8,000 pounds.

“I remember I used to drive a Land Rover, and that would make a fully grown bull hippo about the same length and weigh about twice what my Land Rover did. So that gives you some idea of how solid they can be.”

The incident took place on March 9, 1996, when Paul was initially scheduled for another task, but after a colleague fell ill and management needed someone to lead a tour to the picturesque Victoria Falls, Paul jumped at the chance.

As their canoes approached a pod of hippos, Paul tried to steer the group towards shallower waters to dodge any danger from the massive river dwellers potentially overturning their vessels.

But Paul’s colleague, Evans Namasango, who was guiding two tourists in another canoe, somehow became separated from the main party. At first, Paul wasn’t too worried and chose to take in the serene river views while awaiting Evans’ return.

He recalled: “As I put my paddle down to just soak in the ambiance, there was just this, this crash. Unfortunately, I knew exactly what that sound was, having been around, it was the sound of a hippo hitting a canoe.

“I turned just in time to see Evans’ canoe up in the air, with a hippo underneath the back of it. And Evans, the paddler, flying through the air.”

Paul decided to head back to try and save his co-guide, but then the massive hippo set its sights on him. Suddenly, Paul was plunged into the depths.

For a moment, he was completely startled by the attack. He said: “I’m pinned inside something, and I’m trying to get around it, and I’m struggling to break free, and I can’t, but I managed to get one hand free.

“And feeling around, I just felt the bristles on the hippo’s snout. So, at least now, I knew where I was. I was from my waist up, head first down a hippo’s throat.”

Amidst the pandemonium, Paul had an odd realisation: “Maybe the weirdest part of that is my first reaction, I can remember it, is if it had just happened, was relief.”

He acknowledged his initial dread at finding himself half-consumed by a crocodile, confessing, “At first I was terrified that I was up to my waist down a croc’s throat, and crocs scare the heck out of me. They really scare me.”

Luckily for Paul, he proved too substantial a morsel for the hippo, which quickly ejected him. Battling his way to the surface, he spotted Evans close by, visibly shaken.

Paul tried a rescue mission, explaining, “I managed to get behind him and was just moving in for the classic life saver’s hold when I’m hit from below. Once again, I’m up to my waist down the hippo’s throat, but this time I’m feet first.”

The creature’s savage writhing stopped Paul from accessing his 357 magnum revolver, forcing him to wait until the animal released him.

Paul momentarily broke free, but his relief was short-lived: “I see the monster charging in towards me with his mouth wide open and he scores a direct hit. His tusks go through my torso and through my side. My knees down are outside one side of his mouth, and my head and shoulders and arms are outside the other.”

Paul was left badly wounded after the attack. He suffered 38 lethal bite marks, including a horrific “degloving” that had stripped all skin from his left arm.

A tourist who witnessed the terrifying attack compared it to ” watching a vicious dog trying to rip apart a rag doll.”

Trapped within the hippo’s massive jaws, Paul felt a strange calmness wash over him as he recalled: “I’m lying at the bottom of the river. I’m lying wedged inside this hippo’s mouth.

“His tusks are boring through me. And I’m staring up, and I can see the different hues of green and yellow. And I can see the sunlight shimmering on the water surface there.

“And I remember thinking, ‘I wonder who can hold their breath the longest?’ And just being very matter of fact. And then watching as my blood was just mingling with the water, and thinking ‘Am I going to bleed to death?'”.

Luckily, Mike, one of Paul’s fellow guides, came to his aid. He explained: “On my left side, from my elbow up, I could just see bone in every direction you can imagine.

“The arm had been crushed to a pulp, and from the elbow down, they call it ‘degloved’. The bone had been crushed in more places than I could count, and most of the skin had been ripped off.

“So I said to Mike, okay, roll down my sleeve and button it up. Let’s see if we can keep it attached. There wasn’t much blood coming over.”

Paul added: “The artery had, in fact, sealed itself, which was nothing short of a miracle. The other shoulder, I had had tusks going through both shoulders. My left foot looked like someone had tried to beat a hole through it with a hammer.”

Mike administered first aid, yet it was clear that Paul urgently needed professional medical help. Recalling his extraordinary fortune, he said: “There was a medical air rescue team with an army shock trauma specialist surgeon with them on an exercise right nearby. And they came across and stabilised me.”

Although doctors had no choice but to amputate what remained of Paul’s left arm, his spirit to continue doing what he loves saw him return to the Zambezi two years on. There, he achieved a groundbreaking feat by being the first individual to kayak the full 1,600-mile stretch of the river.