'I didn't think I could survive': Florida woman, 37, speaks out after being attacked by an angry hippo during dream Zimbabwe vacation
- Kristen Yaldor, of Odessa, Florida, recounted the attack in an interview Thursday
- She and her husband Ryan were canoeing down Zimbabwe's Zambezi River on December 1 when a female hippo protecting her calf threw their boat in the air
- The hippo clamped its jaw onto Kristen's leg and dragged her under the water
- For 45 seconds she fought to free herself from its grip by punching it in the face
- The 37-year-old said: 'I didn't feel any pain. It was just more of survival'
- Kristen managed to swim to the shore after the hippo released her
- She suffered a ragged fracture to the right femur that required two surgeries
- Ryan said: 'If [the bite] was an inch or so in another direction, she probably would have bled out in the canoe and not made it past that'
A Florida woman has spoken out about the moment her dream birthday vacation in Zimbabwe took a deadly turn when she was attacked by an enraged hippopotamus.
Kristen Yaldor and her husband Ryan were on a canoe safari on the Zambezi River with a pair of tour guides on December 1 when the group's vessels got too close to a hippo calf submerged in the water, causing its mother to charge.
'I didn't have any fear getting into the canoe whatsoever thinking that something like this would happen,' Yaldor said in an interview with Good Morning America on Thursday.
One of the tour guides had spotted the hippos on the right bank of the river and instructed the guests to paddle away from them, but not soon enough.
'When I had looked over, the only thing that I saw was just a back of a hippo went underneath [the water]. I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know if it just submerged itself, or if that meant it was starting to charge underwater,' Kristen said.
Scroll down for video
Kristen Yaldor, 37, recounted the moment she was attacked by an enraged hippopotamus while on a canoe safari in Zimbabwe two months after the horrifying experience on Thursday
Kristen and her husband Ryan were floating down the Zambezi River on December 1 when their boat came too close to a hippo calf, causing the baby's mother to overturn their canoe. They are pictured above minutes before the attack
Before they knew what was happening, the baby hippo's mother swam under Kristen and Ryan's boat and threw it in the air, causing them to be ejected into the water.
Kristen said her life flashed before her eyes as she hit the 'murky, dirty' water and the hippo clamped its jaw around her right leg, pulling her under the surface.
'For about 45 seconds total, I was underneath the water, from what I estimated. I didn't feel any pain. It was just more of survival,' the 37-year-old said.
Kristen said her life flashed before her eyes as the hippo clamped its jaw around her right leg, pulling her under the surface for nearly a minute (stock image)
Ryan managed to swim back to the shore after the boat capsized, and when he turned around to look for his wife, she was gone.
'She was nowhere to be seen, just disappeared,' Ryan said. 'And I can see the other canoe, farther down, and they're just standing there screaming, hoping that she's gonna come back up to the surface.'
Kristen, a self-described wildlife enthusiast, said she fought the hippo as hard as she could, punching the animal in the face several times as it latched onto her right leg.
'I was very close to feeling myself running out of air. I had to do something to try to get it to let go,' she said.
'I grabbed its mouth to try to put it off my leg and I could feel its face and the leathery feel of its mouth and the front of his nose on my leg.'
Kirsten said she felt even more terrified after the hippo released her.
'My fear then was that it was gonna come after me again,' she said. 'I didn't think I could survive, if it came after.'
Kristen was able to backstroke to the shore where Ryan helped her out of the water and into the nearest canoe.
She was taken to a small clinic in Zimbabwe before being transferred to a hospital in Johannesburg, where she arrived 14 hours after the attack.
Share this article
Kristen managed to swim to the shore after being released by the hippo, whose teeth had fractured her femur. She is pictured while being airlifted to a hospital
![While Kristen's injuries were severe, she considers herself lucky that it wasn't much worse. Her husband told GMA: 'If [the bite] was an inch or so in another direction -- she probably would have bled out in the canoe and not made it past that'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/01/31/14/9226940-6653199-While_Kristen_s_injuries_were_severe_she_considers_herself_lucky-m-12_1548945326124.jpg)
While Kristen's injuries were severe, she considers herself lucky that it wasn't much worse. Her husband told GMA: 'If [the bite] was an inch or so in another direction -- she probably would have bled out in the canoe and not made it past that'
The hippo's teeth had caused a ragged fracture to Kristen's right femur, which has already required two surgeries to fix and may need more in the future.
However, the couple from Odessa, Florida, said they know it could have been much worse.
'They say that most people that do survive hippo attacks don't make it to the hospital,' Ryan said.
'If [the bite] was an inch or so in another direction, she probably would have bled out in the canoe and not made it past that.'
In the wake of the horror attack, tour operator Wild Horizons said in a statement: 'We would like to stress that while our guides are expertly trained and qualified to manage trips such as these, and that every preparation is painstakingly made, nature is unpredictable.'
The company added that guests are given a safety briefing and are required to practice paddling before embarking on the canoe safari to make sure they are 'familiar with the mechanics of rowing down a river, and are competent to do so'.
The Yaldors, who live in Odessa, Florida, had traveled to Africa to celebrate Kristen's 37th birthday. They are pictured left and right at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe
In the wake of the attack, tour operator Wild Horizons said in a statement: 'We would like to stress that while our guides are expertly trained and qualified to manage trips such as these, and that every preparation is painstakingly made, nature is unpredictable' (stock image)
