Double tragedy has struck a former game ranger. His wife and a two-day-old calf born to world-famous hippo Jessica died on the same night.

Tonie Joubert’s wife, Shirley, 56, who has been filmed in more than 100 documentaries swimming with Jessica in a crocodile-infested river close to the couple's home in Hoedspruit, Limpopo, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Sunday night.

Jessica’s first calf, born on Friday, also died that night.

According to Joubert, 75, the calf was going to be named Luko, after Shirley’s father.

Jessica, who turned 23 earlier this month, was only 16kg when she was found in March 2000 after washing up on the banks of the Blyde River with her umbilical cord still attached.

Besides being the subject of documentaries that have been flighted around the world, the celebrity also starred in Leon Schuster’s blockbuster movie, Mr Bones.

Karl Pilkington, from hit British travel documentary comedy series An Idiot Abroad, who visited Jessica, also raved about her.

A comprehension passage in the matric English first additional language paper in 2008 was based on her story.

One of Jessica’s popular routines is drinking 20 Iitres of rooibos tea daily. Shirley also gave her an aromatherapy body massage every night. 

The Jouberts christened another hippo, which is now 11 years old, “Seun” (boy in Afrikaans) after they found it on January 27 2012.

Sobbing uncontrollably over the phone, a heartbroken Tonie said: “She was my support — she was my biggest friend on Earth.”

He said he and Shirley, a pharmacist and beauty specialist, met in March 2003 when she visited Jessica.

“She had a face and body clinic in Delmas. After seeing Jessica, she said she had her father’s eyes and immediately fell in love with her. She visited again after that, and a month later I asked her jokingly whether she would marry me.”

The couple were having a braai in a lapa close to the river.

“She said, ‘Of course I will marry you.’ I didn’t have an engagement ring and told her I was going up to the house.”

Tonie said he had a “beautiful elephant tail with long hair”, which he then boiled to make a ring.

“I went down on one knee and proposed to her. We lit two candles and joined both flames and said, ‘Now we are one’.”

On July 8 2003 the couple married at home in the company of friends.

Tonie said Jessica was fond of both of them and that Shirley would ride on her back and swim with her.

“She’s so super-protective. She chased away crocodiles and wild hippos that came close to them while they were swimming.”

Tonie said since his wife’s death, Jessica was “going crazy, snorting and bumping on the door”.

“I suspect she knows my wife is dead.”

He said he noticed Jessica with her after birth on Saturday, after which he found the calf 100m downstream.

“She was very, very small and weighed about 12kgs. She sadly passed away on Sunday night.”

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