{"id":32139,"date":"2026-08-08T09:15:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32139"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:15:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:15:38","slug":"video-shows-hippo-charging-boat-full-of-tourists-in-botswana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32139","title":{"rendered":"Video shows hippo charging boat full of tourists in Botswana"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-e49c66\" class=\"body-graf\">Video captured by a tourist on board a boat in northern Botswana showed the heart-pounding moment the vessel had to outrun a charging hippo. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-63aabd\" class=\"body-graf\">Oznur Bell, who took the video, was on the boat Sunday with her three children and a close friend as they traveled between camps during their stay in Botswana, she told NBC News. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-768e88\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cIt was one of the most terrifying moments I\u2019ve ever experienced,\u201d Oznur said. \u201cOnce he started charging after us, the adrenaline was unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii styles_portrait__NEQhG\" id=\"anchor-5484b2\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1280\" data-original-width=\"720\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260807-NX037-000WQUOTESHIPPOCHARGETOURBOATNORTHERNBOTSWANAAUG22026CreditReq-ezgif-437c2b.gif\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260807-NX037-000WQUOTESHIPPOCHARGETOURBOATNORTHERNBOTSWANAAUG22026CreditReq-ezgif-437c2b.gif\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/260807-NX037-000WQUOTESHIPPOCHARGETOURBOATNORTHERNBOTSWANAAUG22026CreditReq-ezgif-437c2b.gif\" alt=\"A video shows a hippopotamus jumping in the water while chasing a boat.\" height=\"1280\" width=\"720\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">A video shows a hippopotamus jumping on the Okavango Delta in Botwana, on Sunday.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Oznur Bell <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-62274c\" class=\"body-graf\">One of the journey\u2019s guides, who was operating the vessel, spotted the hippo and slowed the boat in an attempt not to disturb it, Oznur said. The vessel had just come upon an elephant, and she had her phone out when the hippo appeared, she said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-beb668\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cI happened to have my phone in my hand because I was filming it,\u201d Oznur said of the elephant. \u201cBy pure luck, I never put my phone away, which is the only reason I was able to capture what happened next on camera.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c50d88\" class=\"body-graf\">The guide quickly realized the hippo had been provoked despite his efforts, she said. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b11c61\" class=\"body-graf\">Oznur remembers the guide saying, \u201cHold on \u2014 we need to speed up now before he decides to come after us.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-da2c80\" class=\"body-graf\">She continued, \u201cThe moment we accelerated, we looked back and realized the hippo was chasing us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b9fe41\" class=\"body-graf\">Her video, posted to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Dbit-yioDyK\/\" target=\"_blank\">her Instagram account<\/a>, shows the massive mammal extending its head and upper body out of the water in a marvel of propulsion that looks similar to a human breast stroke. The boat created a wake as it sped off and its operator smiled nervously.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-528bdc\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cYou can actually see the smiles on the guides\u2019 faces, not because it was funny, but because it was a smile of pure relief,\u201d Oznur said. \u201cFor a few moments, every single person in the boat was genuinely worried.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2af178\" class=\"body-graf\">It was a rare moment Oznur said she was glad she captured the chase on video.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2ddea9\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cAfterwards, the guides told us that although hippos are known to be extremely territorial, witnessing a chase like this is not something they see very often,\u201d she said. \u201cThey said we had experienced a truly extraordinary encounter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-4e53d1\" class=\"body-graf\">Hippos, which are herbivores, are the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/animals\/mammals\/facts\/hippopotamus\" target=\"_blank\">third-largest land animal<\/a> after elephants and white rhinos and can weigh as much as 8,000 pounds. Despite their mass, the mammals do know how to accelerate in water and on land.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-028022\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThey have adaptations to their semi-aquatic environments allowing them to move swiftly on both water and land,\u201d states the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.awf.org\/wildlife-conservation\/hippopotamus\" target=\"_blank\">African Wildlife Foundation.<\/a> \u201cTheir feet have four-webbed toes that splay out to distribute weight evenly and therefore adequately support them on land, and their short legs provide powerful propulsion through the water.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-eddfdb\" class=\"body-graf\">The number of fatal encounters between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/list\/9-of-the-worlds-deadliest-mammals\" target=\"_blank\">hippos and humans<\/a> are not known, but are <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC7416829\/\" target=\"_blank\">estimated at a minimum<\/a> of 500 deaths each year.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9a3d37\" class=\"body-graf\">One of their biggest threats is human encroachment, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldwildlife.org\/species\/hippopotamus\/\" target=\"_blank\">World Wildlife Fund<\/a>, which lists the hippo as \u201cvulnerable\u201d but not endangered.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b3712d\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">\u201cI feel incredibly lucky that I happened to be filming,\u201d Oznur said, \u201cbecause otherwise this extraordinary encounter would have lived only in our memories.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Video captured by a tourist on board a boat in northern Botswana showed the heart-pounding moment the vessel had to outrun a charging hippo. Oznur Bell, who took the video, was on the boat Sunday with her three children and a close friend as they traveled between camps during their stay in Botswana, she told&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-08\/Botswana-hippo-vsb-2218-72e9be.gif","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}