Just as in the Arctic, walrus are more dangerous for boaters than polar bears, some boaters in Botswana discovered recently that an irritated hippo may be Africa’s most dangerous animal.
The tourists were traveling between camps in a motorboat when a territorial hippo took exception to the intrusion. It leapt out of the water and continued porpoising aggressively after the boat, which sped away.
The group had just come upon an elephant, and visitor Oznur Bell was filming it with her phone when one of the guides spotted the hippo. He slowed the boat, not to disturb it, but the damage was done. The big creature, which can weigh 3,600km, tore toward the boat.
“It was one of the most terrifying moments I’ve ever experienced,” Bell told NBC News. “Once he started charging after us, the adrenaline was unbelievable.”
