Chinese tourist dies in hippo attack in Kenya
August 12, 2018
A Chinese tourist died after being attacked by a hippo on the shores of Lake Naivasha, the Kenya Wildlife Service announced on Twitter on Sunday.
His colleague was also injured in the incident and is being treated at a local hospital.
"We are tracking the hippo," the Wildlife Service wrote on Twitter.
The agency identified the victim as 66-year-old Chang Ming Chuang and the colleague as 62-year-old Wu Peng Te, saying both of the visitors were from China. However, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said the tourists came from the self-ruled island, which Beijing considers its own territory.
Kenya officially recognizes China's claim to Taiwan and has no formal ties with Taipei.
Hippos on the prowl
Six people have died in hippo attacks this year at Lake Naivasha, a popular tourist destination about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the capital, Nairobi, the Kenyan newspaper The Star reported on Sunday. Despite their vegetarian diet, hippos are considered to be extremely dangerous to humans, killing about 3,000 people across Africa every year.
Higher-than-normal water levels are causing hippos to wander from the lake to nearby farms and hotel properties searching for pasture, the newspaper quoted the head of a boat owners association in Navaisha as saying.
After facing a severe drought in 2017, Kenya witnessed several months of heavy rains earlier this year that flooded a number of areas, including around Lake Naivasha.
ap/rc (dpa, Reuters)