The 2000 Mozambique floods were a disaster from beginning to end. Rivers burst their banks, taking homes, livestock and property in their wake, with over 1 million people left homeless — stranded amongst the flood waters. In just three days, 75 percent of the annual rainfall came down.

At the height of the flood, a pregnant hippo cow in the Blyde River gave birth to her young in the water. Usually aunts stand downstream, to prevent the newborn from floating down the river. Yet, in this case, the torrent of water was too strong. Just minutes after birth, the baby was taken by the currents and washed downstream.

Luckily, fate had something else in store for this youngster and it was washed up on a private lawn bordering an off-shoot of the Blyde River. It was here that Tonie found her — a mere 12 kilos (26 pounds) with her umbilical chord still attached — and named her Jessica.

Having raised many animals during his time as game warden in Zambia, Tonie knew exactly what to do. Colostrum is the milk any newborn needs for the first 12 days of its life, and Tonie had perfected his mix over the years of raising orphaned lions, leopards, cheetahs and rhinos.

Jessica took to it well and managed to survive the first critical weeks. With the baby hippo sleeping in his bed, Tonie was able to feed her and attend to Jessica's every need.

Yet, no one takes a hippo in just like that — news crews from around the world arrived to film and photograph the event. Tonie still has articles and newspaper cuttings from when Jessica was small and about her rise to stardom abroad, particularly in South Korea and Japan.

Having worked for the South African Nature Conservation Service for 13 years, Tonie managed the unthinkable — he was given permission to keep the young hippo.