Suspected poacher killed by hippopotamus in Lake Naivasha

By Antony Gitonga

NAIVASHA, KENYA: Operations around Lake Naivasha were temporarily paralyzed after a poacher was attacked by a hippo and cut into two pieces.
Locals and legalised fishermen were left tongue-tied as the body parts of the 27-year-old victim were washed to the shores of the lake.
Incidentally, three of his accomplices escaped death during the early morning incident along South Lake area.
The death brought to five the number of poachers killed in the lake in the last six months by marauding hippos.
In Friday's incident, the father of two had arrived in the lake early in the morning with his colleagues ready for the illegal job.
"They were halfway through their illegal fishing when the lone hippo attacked holding the man by the waist before splitting him into two parts," said a shaken witness.
His colleagues managed to escape leaving behind their fishing gear as the victim screamed for the non-coming help.
Fisheries officers in Naivasha have in the recent past expressed their concern over the sharp increase of poachers in the troubled lake.
And in Mai Mahiu trading center a truck driver was clashed to death by a trailer as he alighted from a moving vehicle.
The driver had joined a colleague in a moving truck when he decided to disembark but slipped and fell according to a witness.
"The man jumped from the lorry that was in motion but he fell and another truck run over him and he died on the spot," said a witness.
Naivasha OCPD Charles Kortok confirmed both incidents adding that the bodies had been collected and taken to Naivasha district hospital mortuary.
On the hippo issue, Kortok said that the man died on the spot after he was attacked by the hippo deep into the lake.
"The body was later washed to the shores of the lake where police and members of the public managed to retrieve it," he said.