A 63-year-old man miraculously survived a hippo attack while in Zambia with his wife, and he’s now recalling the harrowing experience. Roland and Shirley Cherry were visiting from Warwickshire, England. On Tuesday, June 25, 2024, Roland was dragged underwater by a hippo while out canoeing with his wife.
The couple was on a group trip along the Kafue River, part of a five-week camping safari through Southern Africa, per his Just Giving page.
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“We were second canoe in line, following the guide, when there was an almighty BANG as our canoe was struck by a hippo from underneath and lifted it out of the water,” Ronald’s Just Giving page states. “Shirley, who was in the front of the canoe, managed to swim to the riverbank, but the canoe had slammed into my shoulder and dislocated it as we were capsized so I couldn’t swim….”
“The hippo grabbed me in its jaws and took me under to the bottom of the river. Although I never saw the hippo, I thought that my time was up!” he continued. He and the hippo scuffled for a while before Ronald was rescued by a motorboat. “I was badly mauled with severe bite wounds to both my legs and my left side, my left upper arm and a dislocated right shoulder.”
He was taken to a village where he was supposed to be airlifted, but the air ambulance company wasn’t there when he arrived. He was instead taken to the local hospital, which he describes as “a decision which undoubtably saved my life.”
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Ronald detailed the hospital staff swinging “into action” to help him. Without thinking twice or asking for my insurance details, they assessed the hippo damage and whisked me into [the operating theater] to clean my wounds. If they hadn’t acted so promptly there is a strong likelihood that sepsis would have set in which could have proved fatal. I can think of no better illustration of ‘the kindness of strangers,'” he said.
Ronald is now recovering at home, The Times reports. He’s also raising money for the medical institution Mtendere Mission Hospital.
“While recovering in my hospital bed, I had time to think and reflect on the incident. What struck me most from this near-death experience was the kindness of strangers,” he wrote. “I vowed that assuming I made it home to Warwickshire I would talk about the incident at a fund-raising event for the Mtendere Mission Hospital and see if we can offer something back to the hospital that had almost certainly saved my life.”
