On Tuesday, June 25, Roland Cherry, 63, from Warwickshire, England, was pulled underwater by an animal while canoeing with his wife Shirley during a group trip on the Kafue River, according to a message on Roland’s Just Giving page.
The Hippo Grabbed Him In Its Jaws
Roland shared that he and his wife were on a five-week camping safari through Southern Africa and had been enjoying a “fabulous time” before the incident, according to the Just Giving page.
Four days into the second three-week leg of their tour, which took them from Victoria Falls through Zambia, Malawi, and down the Mozambique coast to South Africa, Roland and his wife were in the second of five kayaks when they felt an “almighty bang” as a hippo lifted their canoe “out of the water.”
Shirley managed to swim to the riverbank, but Roland’s shoulder was dislocated in the attack. “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 stated on the Just Giving page.
“When the hippo first hit the canoe, there was a massive crash, much like a car crash really,” Roland told the BBC.
“I do remember thinking ‘Oh no, what a way to go… I’m not ready to die’ and I thought this was it, because nobody survives hippo attacks,” he added to the outlet.
Roland Receives First-Class Treatment
“We know subsequently from fellow travelers I was grabbed again and thrown through the air like a rag doll but towards the bank which was the godsend,” Roland continued, according to the outlet.
“I remember looking down at my legs thinking ‘That’s not good’. There was bits of flesh sticking out of my torn shorts and blood over my abdomen,” he continued.
Roland was transported to the nearest village, Chirundu, about 25 minutes away, where he received treatment at Mtendere Mission General Hospital, which he said “undoubtedly saved” his life.
The avid naturalist was eventually airlifted from Zimbabwe to Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, where he received “first-class” care from what he called the “A-Team,” according to his Just Giving page.
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