Zambia
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Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) are abundant in
the rivers of southern Africa: we saw (and heard) them in the
Zambezi and Luangwa in Zambia, and the Okavango in Botswana.
What you usually see is illustrated here--just the silhouette
of the head or only the eyes emerging from the water, and that
only sporadically. We spotted these hippos in the Zambezi from
a small boat we took from
The River Club
where we were staying
on the Zambia side. Hippos usually come out of the water by
night and only infrequently by day. The inset shows a group of
four hippos we spotted on an island in the Zambezi. The pink
colour is not a photographic artefact--hippos secrete a pink,
oily substance which acts as sunscreen and keeps their skin
moist when they're out of the water; they were once thought to sweat
blood, which actually only
Windows software developers
do. Despite their ungainly appearance on land, they
move quickly and gracefully in the water. They are aggressive,
have little fear of humans, and are considered among the most
dangerous of African mammals. When startled while grazing at
night, a hippo will bolt for the nearest water, trampling
anything and anybody in its path.
by John Walker
July, 2001
This document is in the public domain.
