World Cruise--Safari, Hippos and Elephants

After our breakfast the second day, we were offered the opportunity to do a river walk. We’d done one the last time we visited ten years ago and loved it so, hot weather or not, we were ready to go see some hippos.

We drove through the reserve and out to the public area of Kruger to get to the Crocodile River, aptly named for the critters that inhabit it. It’s a little bit of a downward walk to a group of large rocks where we could sit to watch the animal life of the river. As they did before, the two guides each had huge rifles in the unlikely event that we would have a bad encounter while on foot with any of the animals.

The hippo is the most dangerous animal on foot to humans. They can move faster than you would anticipate and if you are in the way of their path in or out of the water, they can remove you with the snap of their jaws. The only thing that kills more people in South Africa than hippos is mosquitoes. Thankfully we hadn’t seen any of those.

The hippopotamuses look like large rocks as the sit in the river and the water runs around them. Sometimes you are startled as the “rock” moves and a head appears with ears that flick the water off. In the heat, they don’t stay above water long but they do keep an eye on the crocodile that often lurks nearby. If there are young hippos around, the croc will try to get around mom for a tasty meal. Thankfully we didn’t see any encounters although I would think the croc would be grossly outweighed by the hippo mom.

So after sitting for about a half hour watching the river animals including some white egrets and other birds, we headed back to the Landcruiser. Of course the song, I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas, was running through my head.

Back at our bungalow it was time for a plunge in the pool and a relaxing hour or so on the deck trying to read. I say trying because we were interrupted with a parade—a parade of elephants.

We had seen a few on our first day just after arriving after one o’clock and here they were again, at almost the same time. I wondered if they were like our deer at home who seem to have a regular time to cross our backyard.

They slowly made their way across the grassy area behind our bungalow and we watched in wonder and awe. Some paused a moment to grab a snack from a tree or the grass and we could see a little one again weaving in and out among the herd.

Some time ago at a women’s retreat where I spoke, they gave me an elephant themed gift and a story with it that told of how the female elephants surround the expectant mom as she gives birth in order to protect her and the newborn. Later, when we encountered more elephants on our game drive, I asked Sheldon, our guide, if that was true. He wasn’t so sure it happened all the time when an elephant gave birth but they were known to circle the little ones whenever danger was present.

That made sense. The little ones, elephants or any other animal, were the easiest prey for lions and leopards. Not too different from us humans. Young ones are easier prey for the evil that pervades society.

We would see many more elephants throughout our game drives. One very old one. All were thrilling encounters. As we were told, the afternoon bush walk that we passed on had a very close encounter with a huge elephant. Not sure if my heart could have taken that one.

As always, there were plenty of zebra encounters and we appreciated each one. They are beautiful creatures with the prettiest faces and the loveliest eyes. While they are not on the big five list, they are certainly on some list. Maybe the five prettiest list?