A woman who claims she and her cousin were "brutally attacked" by a hippo was so enraged by the incident that she decided to leave a popular tourist spot a one-star review on Tripadvisor.
Natasha Vrany, 39, and her cousin Belinda Newman, 62, were visiting Jessica's Place, where the renowned tame hippos 21-year-old Jessica and nine-year-old Richie are located in Hoedspruit, South Africa.
It was there that they were suddenly attacked, according to Vrany. And the attack was so horrific that Newman was left "holding her intestines in her hand."
The hippo owners have since insisted that the animal that lashed out at them was an entirely different hippo and not one of their "children".
Taking to Tripadvisor on November 30, Vrany shared: "Myself and my cousin were brutally attacked by Richie the hippo on the 14th November at Jessicas place.
"We were rushed to Zaneen hospital having several operations and infections setting in. No comment and lies from Shirley Joubert and Tonie Joubert owners of Jessica's Place. I urge anyone not to put yourself or your family at risk. This hippos are not tame and cant attack at any time."
"I'm disgusted that they are denying everything and i want all to know what they should expect visiting Jessicas place."
In a follow-up interview with Pretoria News, Vrany claimed that the day after they visited the hippos, they were sitting on the lawn outside with Tonie, when they were attacked completely out of the blue by a hippo.
"Tonie had no weapon or rifle with him. We felt quite safe and confident that there would be no issues," she said.
"All of a sudden, Richie came dashing out of the river. My back was facing the river, but I heard the stamping on the ground. As I got on my feet, Richie pushed me down to the ground and proceeded to bite both my legs and throw me around like a rag doll. He had both legs in his mouth, biting harder with every second."
She tried to fight it off but to no avail.
"Richie started carrying me down towards the river as I screamed to Tonie to please not let him take me to the water. Tonie was slapping Richie and saying, 'Seun moenie' (don't)."
She said her cousin jumped on the hippo's back and tried to get him off, which made the wild animal turn its attention on her.
"He opened his mouth softly, and I was able to fall out of his mouth. He then turned on Belinda, pushing her to the ground, and started ripping her stomach to pieces."
Vrany was able to run to the house to ask Shirley to get a rifle, but then collapsed.
"When I woke up, Belinda was standing over me holding her intestines in her hand to try and get them to stay inside," she said.
Tonie, however, maintains that his hippos are not responsible for the attack.
