A man has been swallowed by a hippo and lived to tell the tale.

River guide Paul Templer was attacked by a large hippo 17 years ago when he was traveling down the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe with three other apprentice guides – Mike, Ben and Evans.

Templer discussed the harrowing experience to The Guardian, saying that he had no sense that he was in danger before he was in the mouth of the hippo.

At the age of 27, Templer was kayaking down the river with the three guides when Evan was suddenly flung out of his boat and flew into the air. His boat had been lifted by the back of a huge hippo. Templer tried to row to Evans as fast as he could before he could reach him, he was suddenly in darkness.

"There was no transition at all, no sense of approaching danger," he said. "It was as if I had suddenly gone blind and deaf."

"I was aware that my legs were surrounded by water, but my top half was almost dry," he recalled of the attack. "I seemed to be trapped in something slimy. There was a terrible, sulphurous smell, like rotten eggs, and a tremendous pressure against my chest. My arms were trapped but I managed to free one hand and felt around – my palm passed through the wiry bristles of the hippo's snout. It was only then that I realized I was underwater, trapped up to my waist in his mouth."

Hippos have very strong mouths and are capable of snapping a human being in half.

Miraculously, Templer managed to escape from the mouth of the two-ton hippo. But he had lost his left arm and was left with critical wounds. "I wriggled as hard as I could, and in the few seconds for which he opened his jaws, I managed to escape. I swam towards Evans, but the hippo struck again, dragging me back under the surface. I'd never heard of a hippo attacking repeatedly like this, but he clearly wanted me dead."

He explained that his wound was so "savage that my lung was visible."

Templer eventually recovered from the ordeal but Evans' body was found two days later.

Read Templer's full story here.