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Experience: I Was Swallowed By a Hippo
Guardian ^ | Friday 3 May 2013 | Paul Templer

Posted on 05/10/2013 12:12:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway

The hippo who tried to kill me wasn't a stranger – he and I had met before a number of times. I was 27 and owned a business taking clients down the Zambezi river near Victoria Falls. I'd been working this stretch of river for years, and the grouchy old two-ton bull had carried out the occasional half-hearted attack. I'd learned to avoid him. Hippos are territorial and I knew where he was most likely to be at any given time.

That day I'd taken clients out with three apprentice guides – Mike, Ben and Evans – all in kayaks. We were near the end of the tour, the light was softening and we were taking in the tranquillity. The solid whack I felt behind me took me by surprise.

I turned just in time to see Evans, who had been flung out of his boat, flying through the air. His boat, with his two clients still in it, had been lifted half out of the water on the back of the huge bull hippo.

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Pets/Animals; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: hippo; napl
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1 posted on 05/10/2013 12:12:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

I hate when that happens...


2 posted on 05/10/2013 12:14:04 PM PDT by Cowboy Bob (Democrats: Robbing Peter to buy Paul's vote.)
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To: nickcarraway

” ... I got better.” /John Cleese


3 posted on 05/10/2013 12:14:52 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: nickcarraway

Hippo’s kill more people in Africa than any other animal.


4 posted on 05/10/2013 12:16:05 PM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: nickcarraway; Revolting cat!; Slings and Arrows; Daffynition

Scratched off my Christmas want list.


5 posted on 05/10/2013 12:16:13 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Puppage

Even than man???


6 posted on 05/10/2013 12:16:31 PM PDT by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Cowboy Bob

7 posted on 05/10/2013 12:17:17 PM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: a fool in paradise
Even than man???

Well played, Sir. Well played indeed.

8 posted on 05/10/2013 12:17:53 PM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: nickcarraway

Almost happened to me at Disneyland. TWICE!


9 posted on 05/10/2013 12:18:03 PM PDT by Rio (Tempis Fugit.)
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To: a fool in paradise

Well, the crazy thing is that he apparently went back to give that same hippo another chance at him. (smh)


10 posted on 05/10/2013 12:19:05 PM PDT by alancarp (Obama will grab your guns and ship them to Mexican drug mobs.)
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To: nickcarraway
But children still sing of their desire for a hippopotamus for Christmas. They would be safer asking for a rabid pit bull.
11 posted on 05/10/2013 12:21:47 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Choose one: the yellow and black flag of the Tea Party or the white flag of the Republican Party.)
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To: nickcarraway; Lazamataz

I initially thought this was an article by Laz.


12 posted on 05/10/2013 12:22:05 PM PDT by Starstruck (Don't rest. We came close to the 2nd Amendment being field tested.)
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To: nickcarraway

The hippo. One of the truly dangerous animals of the African wild.


13 posted on 05/10/2013 12:23:08 PM PDT by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
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To: nickcarraway

"I dated one once and she was a great.....cook"

14 posted on 05/10/2013 12:24:58 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: shibumi

Ahem.....


15 posted on 05/10/2013 12:25:28 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
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To: nickcarraway

I thought at first that he had been passed out of the hippo’s rear end. He may be pretending that he left via the mouth!


16 posted on 05/10/2013 12:27:15 PM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS (It is a shame that when these people give a riot)
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To: alancarp

With only one arm to defend himself.


17 posted on 05/10/2013 12:27:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

18 posted on 05/10/2013 12:32:39 PM PDT by o2bfree (Lindsey Graham is left of South Carolina.)
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To: nickcarraway; Larry Lucido; F15Eagle

I was slated to go to Africa, but tested positive for opium.

And to think I was gonna meet the bush-men of the Kalahari.


19 posted on 05/10/2013 12:37:31 PM PDT by Gamecock ("Ultimately, Jesus died to save us from the wrath of God." —R.C. Sproul)
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To: Doogle

You gotta be kiddin, well why didn`t you bring`em a beer and the remote?


20 posted on 05/10/2013 12:43:27 PM PDT by nomad
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