[imagesource:wikipedia]

A boat tour was cruising down the Chobe River in Namibia on March 22 when it came across a thunder of hippos bathing in the water.

Witnesses claim the boat skipper had approached the large animals from a ‘safe distance’ when suddenly a rather irate male hippo charged at them.

The terrifying moment the charging hippo attacked the boat full of tourists by repeatedly chomping down on its outboard motor with its massive jaws was caught on someone’s camera.

Jackie Boshoff, who was on the river tour at the time of the incident, says she “actually couldn’t believe what was happening in front of me”, per The Daily Mail.

The mammal probably just wanted to mate and nap in peace, without a nagging motor noise piercing the water.

The skipper jumped into action and tried to make a quick escape, but the boat was on the ground under shallow water, leaving it at the mercy of the huge semiaquatic mammal. Its massive mouth managed to crack the plastic surroundings of the motor.

“We were quiet on the boat, not making a lot of noise, and the engine was off as we approached them from a safe distance,” Boshoff said. “Then suddenly one particular male hippo begun chasing the boat out of nowhere.”

“When our skipper realised there was a potential problem of him hitting the boat, he turned the boat and headed away. But because he was watching the hippo and not the front of the boat, we went into shallow water and the propeller got stuck in the mud.

“Only later when we reviewed the footage could we see what appeared to be a small calf following the male hippo as it charged us.”

They acknowledged that that daddy hippo was probably just overprotective of his young ones.

Boshoff noted that everyone on board “actually remained very calm” and said they were fortunate that “nobody panicked”.

It seems all the humans were spared, as well.

[source:dailymail]