Man Swallowed by Hippo and Lives to Tell the Tale [VIDEO]

Paul Templer, a former river guide, recently retold his horrific near death experience of being swallowed by a hippo back in 1996. Templer's near death experience was featured in The Guardian's "Experience" series last Friday. His 'Man Swallowed by Hippo' story has been making headlines ever since.

"There was a terrible, sulphurous smell, like rotten eggs, and a tremendous pressure against my chest," recalled Templer in his story for The Guardian.

Hippos are the deadliest mammals in Africa. Weighing around 8,000 pounds, these massive mammals can hold their breath for several minutes and have been known to kill thousands of humans.

"There was no transition at all, no sense of approaching danger. It was as if I had suddenly gone blind and deaf," Templer wrote in The Guardian.

At the mere age of 27, Templer was on a routine tour, taking groups of tourists down the Zambezi River near Victoria Falls, along the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

"I remember looking up through 10 feet of water at the green and yellow light playing on the surface, and wondering which of us could hold his breath the longest," he wrote in The Guardian. "Blood rose from my body in clouds, and a sense of resignation overwhelmed me. I've no idea how long we stayed under -- time passes very slowly when you're in a hippo's mouth."

Templer's left arm was severely crushed in the attack, but was one of the few to survive such a deadly encounter.

His doctor later counted almost 40 puncture wounds and bite marks on his body, caused by the hippo's tusks, according to Templer's story. One of the wounds so deep that it exposed part of Templer's lung.

Since this horrific event, Templer has gone on to be a successful motivational speaker and author. He is also the founder of, "The Templer Foundation," a charitable foundation supporting disabled and terminally ill children in Michigan and southern Africa.

Watch Templer recount his story below: