A helicopter pilot hovering over a lake in South Africa got the fright of his life when a rogue hippo launched itself from the water below and nearly grabbed the aircraft in its gaping jaws.
Bush pilot Kobus Crous had been called in by a conservation team to try and find the aggressive male hippo that had been driven out of its pod but it turned out it was the hippo that found him.
Kobus had been searching a large lake at the Aquila Private Game Reserve two hours’ drive from Cape Town as the hippo needed to be darted and relocated as it was attacking the baby hippos.
The amazing moment when the hippo emerged from the water, underneath the helicopter
But it was very nearly the hippo that won the encounter coming just feet from grabbing the chopper and dragging it down into the lake.
Kobus said:’We were searching for it and had no idea that it was actually right beneath us and it just came out of the water with its jaws open and if it grabbed us there was only going to one winner’.
As this amazing photo shows the hippo emerged from the lake in a huge explosion of water with its gaping jaws wide open and its giant ivory feet just a few feet away from the helicopter runners.
Stunned Kobus, who had game capture specialist Gerald Minnaar, on board quickly took the chopper away from then hippo then used the aircraft to drive animal towards the shore so that it could be tranquillised.
The Aquila Private Game Reserve in Touws River is set in 10,000 hectares and home to the Big 5 of lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo and is hugely popular with British tourists to South Africa.
Rangers had called in Kobus after the hippo had attacked a new born hippo but fortunately they were able to save the youngster but the male had become so aggressive that he had to be moved.
Fortunately when the helicopter came down low over the rogue hippo international photographer Albert Jansen van Roosendaal was on hand to record the moment the hippo attacked the helicopter.
‘The hippo just launched itself from underwater and attacked the helicopter in the air and it was a completely unexpected scenario and I just managed to get this shot which was spectacular,’ he said.
Aquila spokesman Ben Viljoen said: ‘Because of the attack on the baby hippo and others and the male hippo’s temperament we needed support from a capture unit to locate it and to translocate it.
The hippo had been attacking younger animals and needed to be darted to it could be moved out of harms way
‘The hippo had lacerations and various other wounds due to pod fights some of which were serious as he was a very aggressive hippo that was challenging and injuring many of the other male hippos.
‘He had already killed two calves hence the decision for a search mission in daylight which is difficult as tranquilising it is not easy as you don’t want the hippo rushing back into the water and drowning.
‘But he was safely captured and moved by truck to his new home’ he said.
Hippo’s can weigh up to 2 tons and this one was estimated to be about 1.5 tons.
They are one of the most dangerous animals in Africa and kill an estimated 500 people every year.
They were very common in the Western Cape but were exterminated in the region by the 1800’s but the hippo’s at Quila form part of a large pod that was reintroduced to the area nearly 20 years ago.