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In yet another hippopotamus attack, one of the giant mammals has killed a tourist while the man was taking photos. Travellers continue to underestimate the awesome speed hippos can muster on land – and in water, as a video clip dramatically shows.

Taiwanese tourist Chang Ming Chuang, 66, was taking pictures by a lake in Kenya at the edge of Lake Naivasha in Kenya’s Rift Valley with a friend when the hippo struck. Just hours later, another hippo mauled a local fisherman to death in the same area, authorities said.

In Zimbabwe not long before, a man trying to frame a selfie to include a hippo behind him got more than he bargained for when the animal suddenly attacked, racing towards him like an express train.

Police confirmed the deceased had spotted the hippo near a waterhole “and decided to take pictures of it using a phone”.

Usually slow and lumbering, or floating, the huge mammals are surprisingly fast on land and can easily outstrip a human over the short distance it takes.

Less well known is the alarming speed hippos can do through the water.

Three years ago, an awesome video showing an angry hippo chasing down a powered tour boat in Botswana – and nearly catching it – went viral. The clip has now been viewed over 9 million times.

Hippos relaxing

The huge hippopotamus powers through the water like a submerged torpedo, covering a lot of water in 15 seconds.

The jaw-dropping footage was filmed on the Chobe River in Botswana’s Chobe National Park. The hippo is visible mainly by its wake until its bursts out of the river just metres behind the boat’s engine.

According to the African Wildlife Foundation, hippos kill about 3000 people a year, making them far more dangerous than elephants or lions. Only three life-forms kill more people in Africa than hippos: other human beings, mosquitos, and tsetse flies.

Written by Peter Needham