British tourists looked on in horror as two men were attacked by an angry hippo in a river.
The terrifying incident occurred in the Zambezi River near the world-famous Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe on Monday, August 15.
Dramatic pictures caught by tourist Paul Beard, 60, showed the hippo plunging its teeth into a flimsy wooden canoe as the two fishermen onboard tried desperately to swim away.
Paul, part of a group containing six British holidaymakers said: "We had drifted down-river towards Victoria Falls when the canoe passed from view into an inlet.
"There was then an almighty splash as a hippo rose from the water and lunged forwards."
The canoe was badly damaged as the side of it was ripped out by the hippo's crushing bite.
The men were later seen in the canoe trying to keep the damaged side away from the waterline.
Paul explained: "As we returned up-river we could see the two fishermen sitting in their canoe and leaning to one side to try to keep the damaged side clear of the waterline.
"But their attempt to paddle back across the Zambezi, which is over a kilometre wide at that point, faltered as the canoe took on water.
"They were stranded in the middle of the hippo and crocodile-infested water and their only option was to clamber out and swim the boat to the opposite shore."
The stricken pair were eventually saved when boatman Crispin Mutanuka came to the rescue.
Paul added: "Crispin managed to get alongside the sinking canoe and the men clambered into the boat."
On holiday in Zimbabwe and southern Africa, Paul said "you could see the fear" on the faces of the two men when they were confronted by the hippo and their boat began to take on water.
The damaged canoe was eventually towed into the shallow part of the river, but was badly damaged.
Thankfully, the pair were unharmed.
A relieved Paul said: "It certainly wasn’t what we were expecting to see on our sunset cruise but it’s a relief the men were unharmed."
Bull hippos can grow over four metres long and in the wild can weigh well over three tonnes.
A-Z animals describe them as "quite dangerous" to humans who wander into their territory and they are reportedly responsible for the deaths of 500 people every single year.
Former tour guide Paul Templer nearly died and lost an arm in an ambush on the Zambezi river in 1996.
Subjected to awful injuries and over 40 puncture wounds, Paul said: "Time passes very slowly when you're in a hippo's mouth."
