Man films as hippo attacks his car on South African bridge

KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, South Africa, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- A man passing through a South African national park on his way home from Mozambique captured video of a territorial hippopotamus attacking his car.

Wikus Ceronie, 26, a welding inspector, said he was driving Friday through South Africa's Kruger National Park while on his way home from a job in Mozambique when he spotted the hippo on a bridge.

"There were people walking around in the nearby vicinity so I automatically assumed this hippo was used to humans. I was quite fascinated by this so I took out my phone to start filming," Ceronie told LatestSightings.com.

"Suddenly the hippo turned and just started charging... I braced myself as I realized he wasn't going to stop. He hit the [vehicle] head on and then tried biting it. I guess after that he decided he had won because he just turned around and left," Ceronie said.

He said there was some damage to the hood and door of his car, but he was lucky the hippo didn't attack from the side, as the vehicle could have ended up rolling down an embankment with a more than 160-foot drop.