A British man has lived to tell the tale of how he was thrown in the air ‘like a rag doll’ by a hippo during a safari in southern Africa.

Roland Cherry and his wife Shirley, from Warwickshire, were three weeks into their holiday in Zambia when disaster struck during the tour of the 979 mile-long Kafue River.

A female hippo, which turned aggressive while it protected its young calf, charged at their canoe, flinging the couple in the air.

Roland was thrown in the air, crashing into the water – and at the mercy of the 1.4 tonne animal.

Moments later the company director found himself inside the gaping jaws of the distressed hippo, which dragged him to the bottom of the river.

He attempted to scramble to shallow water but was grabbed again by the animal, which tossed him into the air for a second time.

Roland recalled: ‘When the hippo first hit the canoe, there was a massive crash, it was like a car crash. The boat reared up in the air and we were both sent flying into the water.

‘I surfaced but my shoulder was dislocated and I could not actually swim. I was a sitting duck, trying to swim with one arm which was never going to end well and then it grabbed me.

‘As I was being dragged to the bottom of the river I 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.’

Poor Shirley, who had managed to swim to the shore, watched in horror as her husband was dragged into the depths of the water.

‘I was grabbed again and thrown through the air like a rag doll but towards the bank which was the godsend,’ he added.

Looking down at his legs, Roland remembered seeing ‘bits of flesh’ sticking out of his torn shorts and blood over his abdomen.

After he was finally dragged out of the water, he was then hauled onto a boat and rushed back to the couple’s camp up stream where an ambulance was waiting to take him to hospital.

Doctors told him that he was lucky to survive the attack and said if his injuries had been deeper he would have died.

Roland was airlifted to a hospital in Johannesburg where he spent five days before flying back to the UK.

After the attack on June 25, he still has deep scarring from the 25cm bite to his stomach as well as wounds to his thigh and shoulder.

Recovering at home in Tysoe, the victim and his wife are now raising money for Mtendere Mission Hospital where he was initially treated.

He stressed he is ‘forever in their debt’, which is why he is raising money to give back.

‘They have given me an awful lot, a second chance at life and I need to give back to them,’ Roland added.

He has not ruled out returning to Africa for future safari trips, adding that despite the experience he does not hate hippos.

He added: ‘We were there to see the natural world and we wanted to see, but I didn’t want to see that close up.

‘I certainly does not hate hippos – I’m not very fond of what one did to me.’

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