'I don't hate Hippos, even though one nearly killed me': Brit survivor speaks out

Roland Cherry, who is thought to be the first person to survive a hippo attack, described being dragged away by the animal

A British man who was attacked by a hippo while on a canoe trip in Zambia has spoken of his ordeal.

Roland Cherry 63, was on a five-week camping holiday with his wife Shirley when they embarked on a safari on the Kafue River.

It was there a two tonne hippo crashed into the couple's canoe, catapulting Roland and Shirley into the water.

Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain, Roland's wife Shirley said the impact of the Hippo hitting the canoe was "like a car crash and the next minute we were in the water".

Shirley managed to swim away but Roland suffered a dislocated shoulder. The hippo clamped it's jaws around Roland's legs and dragged him away.

Recounting the ordeal, Roland said: "I thought this is it, and this is not how I want to die...My life vest floated me back to the surface, I had a gulp of air but then she [the hippo] came back for a second bite."

Roland said he blacked out but was told by horrified onlookers the hippo threw him into the air like a ragdoll where he then landed on the river bank.

"We thought he was a goner at this stage," says Shirley.

Roland was then rushed to hospital, where he was treated for serious leg and abdominal injuries.

"I had a very nasty bite injury, a wound where the tusk went through my leg, I still have a nine-inch gash in my abdomen", he said. The local Zambian medical staff were stunned as Roland was the first survivor of a hippo attack they had ever treated.

But despite his ordeal Roland insists he does "not hate" the animal that nearly killed him, saying: "We were in their backyard, you have to recognise you are in their natural environment. The hippo did what her natural instincts guided her to do."

But he does warn holidaymakers should be extremely wary of the docile looking animals.

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"They are the most dangerous, we had no idea there were hippos, otherwise we wouldn't have gone in the canoe."

When asked what his advice would be to fellow safari goers, Roland says he would still encourage people to enjoy the African safari experience: "Do go on safari, its the most magical experience, but if you want to go on the river, go in a big boat," he said.

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