Pod Insights Real Survival Stories Upended in a Lake: Ivory Coast Ambush About this episode Jon Ritchey sets out on a relaxing fishing trip in the Ivory Coast - a West African country that is close to his heart. But out on the tranquil water, Jon’s boat - and life - are turned upside down. He and his family have inadvertently strayed into the territory of one of the continent’s deadliest animals. Despite the best efforts of father and uncle, when the young man finds himself in its lethal grasp, it seems there will be only one outcome...
A Noiser production, written by Nicole Edmunds.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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1:01 John Hopkins? It is early afternoon on July the 19th, 1979, in West Africa's Cote d'Ivoire, the Ivory Coast.
1:10 John Hopkins? Golden rays from the scorching African sun glisten on the surface of Lake Kossu. The water is a bright turquoise, patterned by shadows from overhanging branches. Its tranquility is broken only at the occasional ripple of birds landing on its surface,
1:29 John Hopkins? or fish speeding through the depths. A gentle breeze stirs the trees, and the buzz of insect and animal life fills the air.
1:41 John Hopkins? Then, without warning, the serene surface of the lake breaks.
1:48 John Hopkins? Its ripples turn to waves, and flashes of red, green, and blue explode into the sky as the birds take off panicked.
1:59 John Hopkins? In the now turbulent shallows, the head of a man emerges.
2:05 John Hopkins? His mouth agape as he gasps for air, his arms flailing in all directions. This is 21-year-old Jonathan Ritchie. And he's being pursued by one of nature's deadliest creatures.
2:19 Speaker 03 I can remember feeling the leathery head under my feet as I pushed off. I was running out of air as I pushed off from his head and headed for the surface. I needed air desperately.
2:34 John Hopkins? John blinks the water from his eyes and opens his mouth as wide as possible, gulping for oxygen. Beneath the surface, his limbs kick wildly. His right leg is weak due to a savage bite he received moments ago.
2:50 John Hopkins? But his left leg is still strong enough to allow him to tread water, just. Flicking his wet hair from his eyes, John looks up and tries to take in the scene around him.
3:03 John Hopkins? Darting his head this way and that, he spies two figures in the near distance: his dad and his uncle.
3:11 Speaker 03 When the boat had overturned, my dad had swum to a little tree about four inches in diameter and was holding on to that in the water. My Uncle Ray was by the overturned boat, was just holding on to that. And so when my dad saw me coming to the surface, he said, "John, swim for me."
3:31 John Hopkins? But John is greatly weakened. His muscles are jelly, his right leg throbs from the open wound, and blood is draining from his body.
3:41 John Hopkins? He takes a deep breath as he prepares to swim in the direction of his dad. But before he has taken his first stroke, a splash echoes from behind.
3:55 John Hopkins? The beast has returned and is coming for him again.
4:02 Speaker 03 Again, I was violently pulled under the water.
4:07 Speaker 03 He pulled me back down to the bottom of that lake.
4:21 John Hopkins? Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice?
4:29 John Hopkins? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives.
4:44 John Hopkins? In this episode, we meet Jonathan Ritchie. In July 1979, while enjoying a relaxing fishing trip on the Ivory Coast's largest lake, John's boat and life is turned upside down.
5:00 Speaker 03 It come right up in front of us and had grabbed a hold of my leg. And his tooth actually went right through my leg, right above my right ankle, and hooked me just like you would a fish.
5:17 John Hopkins? John and his family have inadvertently strayed into the territory of one of the deadliest animals in Africa, a species thought to be responsible for around 500 human deaths a year. So when the young man finds himself in its lethal grasp, it seems there will only be one outcome.
5:34 Speaker 03 There's no way to escape. At that point, it was like, I'm dead. You know, there's nothing you can do about this.
5:42 John Hopkins? John will need to rely on heroics from his family, sheer grit, and a few miracles. As one wild creature takes him to the brink of death, another could help to provide his unlikely salvation.
5:58 John Hopkins? I'm John Hopkins. From the Noiser Podcast Network, this is Real Survival Stories.
6:28 John Hopkins? It's early morning on July 19, 1979, in Bouake, the second-largest city in the Ivory Coast, located right in the heart of the country.
6:38 John Hopkins? Silver slivers of the pale morning sun creep over the urban sprawl and bounce off the distinctive telecom tower that looms in the centre of town. The roads are already filling up with mopeds and people, long, straight pathways through the jumble of shops and houses.
6:59 John Hopkins? In a quieter neighbourhood, 21-year-old Jonathan Ritchie is carrying fishing equipment along a driveway. He is preparing to get out of the city, to spend some quality time in nature.
7:11 John Hopkins? He loads a truck with his gear, calling on the help of his dad Clyde and his uncle Ray. One by one, the men clamber into the vehicle. Clyde twists the key, and the engine sputters to life.
7:24 John Hopkins? They share a look of excitement as their morning adventure begins. They're going on a traditional family trip that John has enjoyed since childhood.
7:36 Speaker 03 This was an event that we had done previously in a small boat. As time had passed, since my childhood there, the fish had gotten bigger and bigger, so I was really looking forward to catching some very large fish. Some of these fish would get up to 50, sometimes even 75 pounds.
7:54 John Hopkins? Growing up in the Ivory Coast, practical, physical skills like hunting and fishing have always been a part of John's life. As a young child, his dad taught him how to be good with his hands, from catching and cooking wild animals to fixing car engines and basic carpentry skills.
8:13 Speaker 03 I grew up very independent and knew how to survive on my own. And even today, I would describe myself as a survivalist. Put me out in the woods somewhere on an island, give me a few simple tools and I would know how to survive. So I grew up hunting, I grew up fishing. So I knew a lot of practical skills, knew how to work with my hands. My environment enabled me to learn all those kinds of skills and the ability to survive in probably very difficult situations.
8:49 John Hopkins? A child of American missionaries, John and his family straddled two continents, spending most of their time in Africa but returning to the US every four years. Though the travel no doubt broadened John's world, the culture shock wasn't always an easy one to balance.
9:08 Speaker 03 I was very connected to the African culture. I remember going back to the States and feeling very out of place. 1976, flying back to the United States with my sister. First thing I did is I got on a bus with a whole bunch of other kids that were going to an event. This is my first time back after four years. They would stop at a gas station, all get off and of course they knew what to do, you know, go to the Coke machines, how to put your quarter in or whatever it was. I had no idea how to get a soda pop from the machine. So I kinda had to sit back and watch, you know, and observe and figure things out.
9:52 John Hopkins? This cultural dissonance ate away at John all through his teenage years and even into early adulthood when he found himself studying full-time in the States. Eventually, in 1979, after three years of schooling at Toccoa Falls College in the state of Georgia, he decided it was time for a reset.
10:12 Speaker 03 I was kind of a lost puppy at that point. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with my life. My response to that was to just, you know, get on a plane and get back to Africa and get away from my current environment and try to figure things out.
10:30 John Hopkins? John's plane touches down on the warm tarmac of West Africa in mid-July. He begins his trip by traveling back to the town of his childhood, Chibiso. Here, he spends a few days reconnecting with old friends before moving on to his parents' city, Boake.
10:49 John Hopkins? It's not long before his dad Clyde suggests they go fishing.
10:54 John Hopkins? John leaps at the opportunity, not just to get out into the beautiful Ivorian wilderness, but to get back to spending some quality time with his old man.
11:04 Speaker 03 My dad spent enormous amount of time with us as kids, although he was gone many times for weeks out of time doing his work, we always felt like we had our dad's attention, with both of my parents, actually. So you could say that we were very close.
11:22 John Hopkins? Joining them for this trip is John's uncle Ray. The three men are heading to Lake Koso, the largest lake in the Ivory Coast, just under forty kilometers away.
11:33 John Hopkins? The immense body of water was created just six years ago as part of a hydraulic dam system to generate electricity for the area. As a result of its size, it is abundant with fish, enough for local villagers to make a living and for day trippers to be guaranteed a decent catch or two.
11:56 John Hopkins? As the truck rumbles out of the city, John sighs happily. Clyde and Ray share a joke, and the three men absorb the promise of a great day ahead.
12:10 John Hopkins? The three fishermen reach the lake's peaceful shores by mid-morning and step out of the truck into the lush wilderness. Hidden between thickets of brush and sparse forest with only the sounds of wildlife for company, it's as if they're in their own world. They clamber into their little boat and push out onto the gentle water, a peaceful canvas surrounded by greenery.
12:35 John Hopkins? As the hours pass and the sun climbs higher in the sky, the men fill the time paddling through the shallows, chatting, laughing, and reminiscing about previous trips, all while keeping their eyes peeled for any signs of fish.
12:50 Speaker 03 We would just kind of maneuver around these logs and small trees and things and fish. Sometimes we would actually just stop and maybe get off the boat onto one of these huge logs and just, you know, throw a line out and fish that way.
13:05 John Hopkins? As predicted, the lake is brimming with capuchin fish, and it isn't long before the trio have filled their buckets with the chunky perch.
13:15 John Hopkins? They discover that most of the fish lurk around the shallows. So as the morning melts into the afternoon, they steer their boat towards the shore and gently cruise around on the lookout.
13:28 John Hopkins? The warm wind balances against the cool refreshment of the lake. Yellow and green leaves from overhanging branches dip into the aquamarine water as snippets of birdsong fill the air.
13:41 John Hopkins? It's an idyll. But little do they know that something sinister is lurking just beneath the exquisite surface.
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15:02 John Hopkins? Surrounded by his family in the wilderness where he grew up, John allows himself to relax.
15:09 John Hopkins? He peels off his shirt and dangles his bare feet in the cool waters, letting the stresses of the past few months wash away.
15:18 John Hopkins? The little fishing boat cruises through the shallows, brushing past reeds and meandering between floating chunks of wood.
15:27 John Hopkins? At one point, John, perched on the edge of the boat, notices that they're approaching a particularly large log. He extends his leg to push off of it and prevent a collision.
15:39 John Hopkins? But just as he does, the water around him erupts.
15:45 John Hopkins? An almighty splash overpowers the boat, capsizing it and sending all three men into the water. John is plunged deep beneath the surface.
15:56 John Hopkins? The sunlight disappears meter by meter as he plummets to the bottom of Lake Kosa. It's clear that something greater than the current is dragging him down.
16:07 Speaker 03 What had happened is the hippopotamus had come right up, under the water, it come right up in front of us and had grabbed a hold of my leg and jerked me out of the boat. And his tooth actually went right through my leg, right above my right ankle, and hooked me just like you would a fish. Took me right down to the bottom of the lake. And my leg hooked, of course, in his teeth. There's no way to escape. And he began to shake me violently. Imagine a dog shaking a rag, just shaking me like this.
16:49 John Hopkins? Hippopotamuses are fiercely territorial. Despite being herbivores, they're known for their aggression and are the deadliest large land mammal on Earth. Males can weigh over four tons, and their spear-sharp teeth grow up to 20 inches long. Finding oneself in hippo territory can be extremely dangerous, as Jonathan Ritchie is currently discovering.
17:18 John Hopkins? For the first few heart-stopping seconds of his descent to the bottom of Lake Kosu, John doesn't fight back. Against a creature this ferocious, the outcome seems inevitable.
17:33 Speaker 03 At that moment, people ask, "Were you afraid? Were you scared?" And I can't say I was. At that point, it was like, "I'm dead." You know, "There's nothing you can do about this." I thought, "You know, this is it. You know, what can you do?" And I just basically went limp, which probably kept me from breaking a bone or something of that nature, or causing more injury or damage.
17:57 John Hopkins? But then, in a matter of seconds, something shifts inside of him. Fueled by this sudden spark, John starts wriggling and writhing in a desperate attempt to free himself. But his right leg is clamped firmly inside the jaws of the beast as its immense strength and weight sinks him to the lake's floor. His lungs are empty. Escape appears impossible. But still, the 21-year-old fights. As his battered body hits the muddy sand, he tries his best to ignore the paralyzing pain of his punctured right leg, kicking the hippo with every ounce of energy he has left.
18:40 John Hopkins? Unbelievably, he frees himself.
18:46 Speaker 03 I can remember feeling the leathery head of this hippo under my feet as I pushed off. I was running out of air as I pushed off from his head and headed for the surface. I needed air desperately.
19:00 John Hopkins? Finally, John's head breaks the surface of the lake, and he gulps in lungfuls of fresh air.
19:07 John Hopkins? With murky water still blurring his vision, his stinging eyes can just make out the familiar figures of his dad and uncle.
19:16 John Hopkins? Ray treads water a few hundred feet away, clinging on to the overturned boat for dear life. Meanwhile Clyde is hanging off a nearby tree.
19:25 John Hopkins? John takes a second gulp of air and prepares to swim towards his dad.
19:30 John Hopkins? But just as he takes his first stroke through the water, the hippo returns.
19:36 Speaker 03 I was violently pulled under the water. This time the hippo would come up and literally my waist, my lower waist was in its mouth. He pulled me back down to the bottom of that lake and again was just violently shaking.
19:52 John Hopkins? The underwater battle recommences. The lower half of John's body is jammed within the creature's mouth. Every movement threatens to rip his limbs apart.
20:04 John Hopkins? He has to resist the overpowering impulse to open his mouth and breathe in water.
20:10 Speaker 03 I remember wiggling, finally managing to wiggle out of its mouth. And at this point, I had presence of mind enough not to head back to the surface right away, but to swim underwater a short distance before coming to the surface. It worked too well for me the first time to head straight for the surface.
20:29 John Hopkins? This time, when John emerges, he finds himself just ten yards away from his dad.
20:36 John Hopkins? Who's still clinging to a little tree in the lake. Relative safety lies in the near distance, but the hippo is still hot on his heels.
20:48 Speaker 03 When my dad saw me coming to the surface, he said, "John, swim for me." First of all, he asked, "Are you injured?" Of course, I knew I was injured, but at that point, I didn't even feel any pain. It's like when you've cut your finger with a knife, you know, immediately you don't feel pain. It's later that it begins to throb. That was what was happening with me. I knew I was injured. I had to have been injured terribly. So I said, "Yes, I am." He said, "Swim for me." And amazingly, I was able to do so with the injuries that I had.
21:19 John Hopkins? John stretches one arm in front of the other and pulls himself through the water. He tries to kick, but his right leg is lame. He keeps his head up, his eyes focused on his dad.
21:32 John Hopkins? By now, the hippo has risen back to the surface and has him in its sights again.
21:39 John Hopkins? John's bloody hands claw at the waves as his feet kick up torrents of whitewater. All the while Clyde is shouting to his son, encouraging him that it's just a few more strokes, a handful more seconds. Now, with John within touching distance, Clyde extends his arm and pulls him from the water, scraping his son's chest along the splintered bark of the tree.
22:05 John Hopkins? He winces as his wet skin is slashed open, but his dad catches him, holding him firmly on the branch a few feet above the lake.
22:14 John Hopkins? Tangled in a hasty embrace, the pair turn to face the water, trembling in trepidation. There, on the surface, the hippo moves closer.
22:30 Speaker 03 Go on video, you'll see pictures of hippopotamuses chasing boats with their mouths open. They lunge out of the water and then they go under the water and then they lunge again. This is what that hippo was doing.
22:44 Speaker 03 The head of the hippopotamus was blood red. When the hippopotamus becomes very angry, enraged, they excrete this substance through the pores of their skin, much like blood, and it's kind of an indicator that, "Watch out, I'm mad, stay away." At that point, we were sure that we were going to die together. I mean, where can you go? There was no safety zone. The only thing we had was God, you know? And I remember my dad, my dad was just praying out loud, "God, send that hippo away." What more can you do in a situation like that?
23:20 John Hopkins? As Clyde's prayers ring through the air, the hippo closes in on the father and son. It's 15 feet away, then 10, 5. It plunges its enormous red head back beneath the surface.
23:40 Speaker 03 Nothing happened. When the hippo surfaced, it was about thirty yards away, looking at us, and disappeared under the water. When he surfaced again, it was even further away. It was kind of looking back and then going away. It was like, why? Hippos don't typically do that. They typically kill their victims.
24:00 John Hopkins? The hippo's retreat is an unbelievable turn of events. But there it is. The creature swims further away, bobbing across the lake, until it's little more than a tiny reddish-brown dot.
24:15 John Hopkins? With the coast seemingly clear, Ray begins to head towards John and Clyde, dragging the upturned boat with him. As his uncle approaches the base of the tree, John takes advantage of the momentary calm to assess his injuries.
24:29 Speaker 03 I can remember seeing a huge gash right above my right ankle, where just flesh and bone were exposed, where his tooth went all the way through. But it wasn't bleeding. I thought, okay, there's no blood, you know, it's just flesh and bone. But then suddenly, I began to lose strength. It turned out that when the hippo pulled me under the second time, his tooth, one of his teeth, actually went almost all the way through my upper right thigh, severing an artery. And blood was just gushing out of that artery, where the tooth had gone in. At that point, all of a sudden, because of the large amount of blood that was leaving my body, I actually went blind. I went blind. I couldn't see anything.
25:14 Speaker 03 My dad said, "Hold on, John, hold on. You gotta help me out here." And I couldn't have lifted a finger to help myself. It was just, I went limp as a noodle. I couldn't do a thing.
25:24 John Hopkins? Thinking on his feet, Clyde rips off the bandana he's wearing across his forehead, scrunches it into a ball, and jams it into John's right leg.
25:34 John Hopkins? But the wound is too deep. Thick crimson blood continues to gush out. Clyde takes a second bandana from his pocket, and wraps it tightly around his son's leg, forming a tourniquet. It's something.
25:49 John Hopkins? The waterfall of blood is reduced to a trickle, and John's translucent skin regains a vague, pink hue.
25:58 John Hopkins? Gradually, his eyesight and some of his strength return, and he's able to stand up gingerly. Leaning on his dad for support, John delicately clambers down from the tree towards Uncle Ray and the overturned boat.
26:14 John Hopkins? The plan is to balance John on top of the craft, keeping his open wounds out of the water, and the men will swim and wade to the shore.
26:25 John Hopkins? Once he's in position, Ray and Clyde take their places either side of the boat and start trying to push it forwards. But the current of the lake is strong. It's an immense effort to drag the boat with the added weight of John.
26:40 Speaker 03 We would stop for a while, rest, and maybe, you know, find one of these little trees or logs and hold on for a while, rest, and then just keep swimming. Until finally, they got to where they could touch ground, and they pulled me up on the bank.
26:57 John Hopkins? Finally, after struggling through the murky waters, they reach the edge of the lake.
27:04 John Hopkins? With dry ground beneath their feet and warm rejuvenating rays from the late afternoon sun above, it's easy to believe the worst is behind them.
27:15 John Hopkins? But that's far from being the case.
27:19 John Hopkins? The grassy bank they've landed on is what's known as a hippo wash, an area where the animals come to feed every evening after spending a long day in the water.
27:30 John Hopkins? It's now somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m., and the sun is already dropping in the sky. There is likely only a handful of hours left before the creatures start to arrive.
27:43 John Hopkins? But John is exhausted, his condition worsening by the minute. They cannot move him again.
27:50 John Hopkins? And so they have no choice but to set up camp on the hippo wash.
27:57 John Hopkins? For a variety of reasons, time is not on their side. And with the temperature starting to drop, Clyde turns to his son, places a hand on his shoulder, and tells him his daring plan.
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29:13 Speaker 03 My dad had served in this area for many years and believed he knew where there would be a village about seven or so kilometers away. But he would have to go there to get help because between the two of them, they knew that they couldn't transport me out of there. So my dad went.
29:35 John Hopkins? Moments later, Clyde is ready to go. John lies on the ground, Uncle Ray doing what he can to make him comfortable. Clyde says a hasty goodbye to his boy, promising to be back soon with some form of help. And he jogs off into the dusky foliage, hurdling roots and rocks and splashing through puddles. He tears along the banks of Lake Kosu, traveling deeper into the undergrowth, winding through narrow pockets of forest. Finally, he reaches a mango tree. Its nobbly trunk sits in the center of his path. But just beyond, Clyde spots something. A woodchip trail.
30:19 John Hopkins? It appears well worn with grooves where others have trodden. Surely the trail will lead to a village.
30:27 Speaker 03 And so he hit that trail running and started going as fast as he could towards this village. And finally came to the outskirts of this village, met some farmers there who were working in their fields and managed to eventually tell them what had happened and they said, "Oh, we'll get you help."
30:46 John Hopkins? Imploringly, Clyde makes himself understood to the farmers. Once they gather the gravity of the situation, they make a plan.
30:55 John Hopkins? There are two teachers in the village who own a pair of small mopeds. They suggest that Clyde rides one of the vehicles and leads a group back to the riverbank. Time is of the essence.
31:12 John Hopkins? As soon as the mopeds are located, they hop on board. Clyde leads the way, the dim headlamp and low purr of his vehicle breaking through the still night.
31:26 John Hopkins? But after just a few minutes, as they descend into the brush, the plan starts to come unstuck.
31:34 Speaker 03 Back down this little trail they went, you know, trying to find where he actually had come out from the woods. Unfortunately, Dad had not marked where he had come out. And they looked and looked and looked and finally they went down to the water's edge. Thinking, "Well, we walk along, the bank will eventually come to." But there were a lot of these little finger inlets, you know, and they would go up and down, up and down. And it didn't seem to be getting any closer and it was getting later and later and darker. And so they knew that they had to go back and try to find help in another way.
32:12 John Hopkins? It's now well into the evening and darkness coats every inch of the wild landscape. Clyde speeds back through the undergrowth.
32:23 John Hopkins? Then, as his moped approaches the village again, the dirt path is illuminated by the bright headlights of a car. It's a taxi, a potentially massive help. But Clyde has no cash on him. Then, a huge stroke of luck.
32:42 Speaker 03 He approached this guy as he was discharging his passengers. And the guy looked at my dad and recognized him. Because my dad has served many years in this small town. And they said, "Pastor Richie, what are you doing here?" And so, he agreed then to take my dad back to Chibisu right away.
33:02 John Hopkins? It's their best shot at securing John help.
33:06 John Hopkins? Clyde and the cabbie set off. It's several miles of tricky driving, along loose rocks and across stony paths, back and forth around endless hairpin corners. It's a slow, frustrating journey.
33:22 John Hopkins? Finally, the taxi grinds to a halt in Chibisu, and Clyde leaps out.
33:30 John Hopkins? Knowing the local people well, he's quick to raise the alarm and gather a search party. Everyone bursts into action. But by now, a huge amount of time has been lost, and nobody knows if it's already too late.
33:49 John Hopkins? Meanwhile, almost forty kilometers away from the gathering search party, John remains on the grassy banks by Lake Koso. Propped up by Ray, his bare and bloody legs wrapped in bandanas, he's still alive, but only just.
34:09 Speaker 03 My uncle Ray tried his best he could during that time while my dad was gone to try to keep me warm, tried to keep the bugs and things out of my wounds. And he regaled me with stories, you know, survival stories that he knew. I remember even hearing the story for the first time about that frontiersman in the US who was mauled by a bear, survived under incredible circumstances, made a movie out of it, of course. And so, he did his best to try to keep me awake. I don't dare go to sleep. I just couldn't because I might not wake up.
34:44 John Hopkins? While Ray is doing his best, increasingly it feels like a losing battle. The men are hardly dressed for a cold night in the wilderness. And with all the blood John has lost from his leg, his core temperature is quickly falling.
34:58 John Hopkins? Flies and insects have formed a strange halo around the young man as they feast on his various wounds.
35:08 John Hopkins? To add to the horror, the quiet of the night is continually disturbed by sounds coming from the shallows of the lake.
35:16 Speaker 03 We heard splashes, you know, always along the bank. Could have been fish, could have been hippos. And this is literally where hippos would come up and feed on the grass there by the lake at night. And so, you know, it was like, are we gonna, are we gonna have another hippo encounter?
35:36 John Hopkins? The hours crawl by. John clings on.
35:40 Speaker 03 You're wondering, you know, aloud, why my dad had not returned? Why so long? This is about five hours that transpired at this point. And so, could he have been bit by a poisonous snake, a green mamba, which were very prominent in this area? Had he died along the way? My dad was in his 50s, all the exertion. Did he have a heart attack? You know, what was preventing him from coming back and helping us?
36:07 John Hopkins? And then, as midnight approaches, something pierces the cacophony of wild noise. A new, unusual sound.
36:18 John Hopkins? Ray and John stare at each other, listening intently. Then it reverberates through the night once more.
36:27 Speaker 03 Finally, we heard my dad yelling. And my Uncle Ray responded. And you can't imagine the feeling that I had to hear my dad's voice.
36:43 John Hopkins? Moments later, Clyde bursts through the dense flora. He's followed closely by the search party he had assembled.
36:53 John Hopkins? The rescuers tumble out one by one, the beams from their flashlights spilling over the dark grass. Ray shouts at the top of his lungs, guiding them to where he and John are waiting.
37:06 John Hopkins? As the group pads across the hippo wash, another shout comes from the lake. A second search party has arrived, this one gathered in a fishing boat. They're floating towards them now.
37:19 John Hopkins? Clyde is the first to reach his son and hastily swaddles him in blankets, wrapping them around as tightly as possible to raise John's body temperature.
37:29 John Hopkins? Then the others pick him up and carry him across the plains to the fishing boat.
37:35 Speaker 03 When he put that blanket around me, I finally released the tension that was in my body and I I just began to shake. I couldn't control myself. I was just shaking incredibly. I had done everything I could to survive up to that point. Every time I moved, it was so painful. Shortly after they pulled me up on the bank, it wasn't long before that numbness wore off, the shock wore off, and I began to... Every time I moved, the pain was unbearable. It was incredible.
38:07 John Hopkins? Racing against the clock, they speed back across the murky lake before loading John into a waiting car. The second the key is in the ignition, they accelerate into the blackness, driving north back towards Boakey.
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39:24 John Hopkins? Back in the city, John receives some initial treatment and pain relief. But soon after, the decision is made to take him on to another medical center around an hour away, closer to the desert.
39:38 Speaker 03 Took me on up to this small mission hospital up on the edge of the desert. And they did that because they knew if they went to any local hospital, they would just simply, you know, look at my leg and just cut it off. And at this small mission hospital, they had great doctors and this was probably the best option for me.
39:59 John Hopkins? It's been 12 hours since the hippo attack. John is pale from blood loss. His wounds are itching with infection, and he hasn't eaten or drunk a thing since well before the attack.
40:13 John Hopkins? Finally, just after 3 a.m., he arrives at the mission hospital. The staff immediately whisk him downstairs to the operating theater, where he stays for the next four hours.
40:26 Speaker 03 The doctors were not sure whether they could even save my life at that point. They thought for sure they were, they were going to have to take my right leg. There was a lot of muscle destroyed. You know, when that tooth went through my upper thigh, it also, another tooth had gone in my left hip. There was a hole about three inches in diameter where a tooth had just gone in, stopped at the bone. It was like my whole waist had been somehow in its mouth. There was so much damage that had been done.
40:58 John Hopkins? His right leg has been mutilated to such an extent that the doctors initially don't believe they can save it. And yet, incredibly, when John's wheeled out of surgery hours later, he still has both of his legs.
41:13 John Hopkins? Though it seems like a miracle, it has a surprising, albeit somewhat gruesome, scientific explanation.
41:20 Speaker 03 When I was laying there by the lake, blowflies were coming in and out. My wounds were filled with maggots, which was a good thing, of course, because they feed on infection, and so it helped to keep the wounds clean. I knew from other studies and such that tribes would do this purposely if they had a wound, that they would allow the blowflies to lay eggs and the maggots would eat the infection to keep the wounds clean. And so that was a good thing.
41:51 John Hopkins? For the next few weeks, John is bed bound in hospital, resigned to watching the bright summer sun from his bedroom window as it rises and falls over West Africa's plains.
42:02 John Hopkins? Slowly, aided by regular blood transfusions and painful skin grafts, he begins to rebuild his strength.
42:11 John Hopkins? But his doctors set expectations low, warning him that he'll never be able to walk without a limp or be as active as he once was. Their pessimism irritates John.
42:22 Speaker 03 I had been in pretty good shape and I thought, you know, I'm going to do my best to try to get back on the soccer field, defy the odds. So I began doing everything, you know, I could to start building up muscle to compensate for muscle that had been destroyed and started, you know, just trying to run a little bit and just push through the pain.
42:45 John Hopkins? John's determination pays dividends, and by the end of summer, he's back on his feet, running, jumping, and kicking a football. In fact, when he boards the plane to leave his parents and head back to the States after his summer break, the only visible remnants of the hippo attack are the purple scars that snake around his legs.
43:09 John Hopkins? But the emotional impact leaves a lasting impression. The years pass, he takes his final college exams, marries, has a family of his own. But the experience he went through in the Ivory Coast continues to shape him.
43:25 Speaker 03 I believe that my life was spared for a purpose. And up to that point, I'll be honest with you, I was, I was just kind of floundering. I had no idea what I could do with, with my life. I had no idea what skills that I had. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I determined that, you know, God was going to be the controlling factor of my life. And I relinquished that to Him and said, okay, open the doors for me. I'll step through them and you guide me, you lead me. And that transformed me completely. I'm no longer stressed out by the things that stress me. I'm no longer in control of the things that I can't control. I no longer fear death.
44:13 John Hopkins? Next time on Real Survival Stories, we meet Josh Burns. In October 2022, Josh sets off on a solo hunting expedition into the Blue Mountains of Oregon. But when a freak accident flips the script, the hunter is turned into potential prey.
44:33 John Hopkins? Alone in the domain of bears, wolves and mountain lions, Josh will have to find a way to rescue himself. As he struggles to move, struggles to stay conscious, struggles to take a single breath.
44:46 Speaker 04 Breathing is a subconscious activity. You don't have to think about it most of the time. But even thinking about it, I couldn't make myself inhale. I could not breathe.
44:59 John Hopkins? That's next time.
45:04 John Hopkins? Listen to Josh's story today without waiting a week by joining Noiser Plus. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started.
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Previous Crumbling Mountainside: Into the Void Next Alone in the Valley: Outdoorsman in Peril Page updated November 3, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated