Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus Amphibious), Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, Africa
Of course we remembered what Gus had said during the briefing, “There are times where you need to concentrate on other things than taking a photo.” When we approached a narrow passage littered with hippos, we sensed that this might be such a moment. Gus was knocking the paddle against the canoe to make them move, to no avail. We sensed it was not the usually “let’s pass a bunch of hippos” situation.
Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus Amphibious), Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, Africa
Nevertheless, a buffalo staring at us, monkeys racing up and down a tree and a huge elephant watching our attempts to pass the hippos was too inviting. The guys, busy taking photos, forgot to paddle. Gus’ voice was tense, “Please guys, follow me!” were the last words recorded on Heidi’s camera that day. The video shows two hippos jumping high up from the shallow waters. Those actually swam away, but a third one came after Jason and Gilles. Panic-stricken they tried to get ashore, only to run into a tree that had fallen down the embankment. While Jason was ready to jump, Gilles used the tree to push the canoe back into the channel, towards the hippos. Now Gus was screaming, “Move away, paddle!”, but the two guys seemed frozen. Heidi had to look away, it was just too much. Luckily the hippo chose to dive under their canoe and not to push them over. Jason later said he would never forget the ripple of water getting closer and closer.
Sunset over the Zambezi, Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, Africa
We were all shaking, especially since the guys had had two other minor encounters with hippos that day. Even Gus thought that this was too much of an excitement! Our trembling hands were eventually steadied by few plastic cups of gin & tonics. They also calmed us for the night to come. All around our tents, we could hear elephants and hippos ripping off leaves and trampling through the undergrowth…
African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana), Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, Africa
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