Safari Operator Sued After US Woman Is Mauled, Crushed to Death in Front of Husband

A New Jersey man whose wife was killed by a hippopotamus last year during an adventure tour in Zambia is suing the company that arranged the trip

The lawsuit said that African Portfolio of Greenwich, Connecticut, did not properly protect Craig and Lisa Manders of New Jersey and did not give tour guides proper screening and supervision, according to CBS News.

The lawsuit said that as Lisa Manders, 70, was standing by a river, a hippopotamus “suddenly and without warning lifted its head and charged from the water,” the lawsuit said, according to USA Today.

“Although Lisa Manders attempted to flee, she was unable to escape and the hippopotamus violently attacked her … crushing her head and body with its bite,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said the incident took place in the Lower Zambezi National Park with African Portfolio’s associates. The party of tourists that included the couple was informed about the hippo, but was not told hippos are very dangerous and territorial animals, the lawsuit said.

Instead, the lawsuit said, tour guides told members of the tour group to approach the hippo and then walked away from the group.

“Had we understood the dangers posed by the hippopotamus, we never would have agreed to be in such close contact while on foot,” Craig Manders said in a statement, according to NBC.

“The idea that we were unwittingly exposed to such an extreme danger, a danger made even worse by our tour guides leaving Lisa alone on foot with nothing between her and such a deadly animal, is nothing short of astonishing,” the statement said.

A New Jersey man whose wife was killed in a horrific hippopotamus attack last year during a safari in Africa is suing the U.S. company that arranged the trip. pic.twitter.com/YHevorRqp7

— The Daily Record (@MDDailyRecord) February 14, 2025

“We’re doing this because this should never have happened,” Paul Slager, an attorney representing Craig Manders, said, according to CBS.

“There are basic safety standards that businesses are expected to follow, and that includes people in the safari tour industry. And those were not followed, and the consequences here were absolutely devastating,” he said.

Craig Manders is “suing both for the loss of his wife and the impact that has on him and his life,” Slager said. “And he also has a claim for having witnessed what happened to her, having seen the attack, which is unthinkable. It’s unimaginable.”

African Portfolio attorney Rodney Gould said the company was not liable because it only arranged lodging.

He said Chiawa Safaris in Zambia provided the guides.

“It’s a horrible tragedy when somebody goes on one of these trips and is injured or killed. It’s awful,” Gould said. “I think it’s important to understand what African Portfolio’s role in this is. It’s a tour operator. It arranges trips. It puts together the pieces.”

“My client didn’t conduct the safari. It arranged it. It booked all the components,” he said.

The lawsuit, however, said African Portfolio “encouraged and/or permitted” the couple to experience an “avoidable and highly dangerous encounter with a dangerous hippopotamus in the Zambian wilderness.”

The lawsuit also said that the guides “knew or should have known that the close presence of the wild hippopotamus to participants in the Bush Walk posed an immediate and extreme danger, due to the known tendencies of hippopotami to be highly unpredictable, territorial, and aggressive in such circumstances,” according to NBC.

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