Guide Survives Harrowing Attack By Persistent Hippo -- 4,000- Pounder Struck 3 Times

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zambezi River guide Paul Templer got a whiff of doom when a 4,000-pound hippo snatched him from a canoe and swallowed his head.

"I went straight down his throat, which is probably closer than one wants to get to a hippo," the 27-year-old Zimbabwe resident, formerly of Michigan, said last week.

Templer, who speaks with some detachment and humor about surviving three slashing attacks by a hippo, counts himself lucky to be around to talk about it.

The encounter cost him an arm, and the hippo's dagger-like tusks pierced Templer's chest under his left armpit.

The attacks occurred at one of the most scenic spots in the world, on the sparkling Zambezi River about a half-mile upstream from Victoria Falls. Templer was guiding home a river safari in the peaceful late afternoon of March 9. Three canoes and a kayak made up the safari.

"We were coming down the river, turned around a corner, and I saw a hippo with a calf," he said. "So I decided to avoid that."

Wildlife experts say hippos kill more people each year in Africa than any other animal does. A hippo with her calf is the most dangerous of them all.

"There was an alternative channel we could take," Templer said. "I knew there was a rogue male hippo, about 2 tons. He was usually way downstream from where he was that day. Two of us . . . crossed over into the shallows, and the third canoe got hit in the back by the hippo."

The rogue surged under the canoe, lifted it up, knocking paddler Evan Nemasango, 25, into the river. Templer paddled backward to rescue Nemasango.

"I bent over to grab ahold of him. The hippo came up between the two of us and took me out of the canoe. I went straight down his throat."

Hippos have powerful jaws and thick, sharp tusks several inches long. Two of the tusks put holes in Templer's back and lungs.

"He shook me a lot and let me go. Fortunately, we were in quite shallow water, and I swam to the surface."

By the time he surfaced from the first attack, Templer said: "My paddler was in quite a state. I grabbed ahold of him. . . . I was swimming backward going into the shore."

As he swam, Templer reassured Nemasango: "Relax, Evan. Don't worry. He's gone. We'll get in."

The hippo struck a second time.

"Oh, here we go again," Templer recalls thinking. "The hippo dragged me down. He hit my legs and took me under. I let go of the paddler. That is the last time we saw the paddler alive.

Continued Templer: "I'm in my basic survival instinct - kicking, screaming and scratching. Then he let me go again after he had taken bites.

"I surfaced again and started swimming toward some rocks. I thought that would be the safest spot I could get to. Never in a million years did I think he would hit again. We have never, never heard of hippos doing what this one did."

During the first two attacks, Templer struggled to pull a .357-caliber Magnum from a holster dangling from his belt. The weapon, standard for a river guide, was loaded with bullets that had "monolithic heads so they had enough stopping power," Templer said. "I just couldn't get to it."

When the hippo attacked a third time, Templer went for his gun again. The hippo beat him to the draw.

"The hippo stripped the sidearm off me on his third go. He bit through my pants and my underpants but left me intact.

"Then he hit me pretty much on the side of my torso. I got chewed up pretty bad. This time, he had a very good bite. When he let me go, I managed to make it to some rocks where it was too shallow for him to carry on."

The remaining canoe paddler rowed Templer to shore, where a medical rescue team rushed him to nearby hospital. After emergency treatment there, he was taken to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, about a four-hour ambulance ride south of Victoria Falls.

"He had multiple lacerations of the body, and perforations of the chest. He had two lacerations of the left arm," said Dr. Bekithemba Ncube. "Rigor mortis had set in the lower part of the arm. It was rock solid."

Ncube amputated Templer's left arm just above the elbow, hoping to save the upper part of the arm. He treated other wounds. For 24 hours, Templer looked as if he was recovering well.

"But the next day, he was gray," Ncube said."The arm was infected."

He amputated Templer's left arm at the shoulder.

Three days after the attack, searchers found the body of Nemasango, the paddler.