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African Tales #5

on Mar 23, 2016

I have not had many interactions with hippos and crocs other than when I was 8 years old, I clearly remember going to a crocodile farm in the Free State and being dared by my classmates to kiss one. It was quite an ordeal, especially seeing as the crocodile at the time was the same size as me. It helped a little that the handler had it securely by the tail and the snout so it did not really pose much threat, but to me it was the most daring thing I had done with a croc.

A few years later when I was about 15 our family went on a tour through Botswana and as part of it we spent a few days in the Okavango Delta. One day in particular I will never forget... We were on a mokoru (dugout canoe) safari and it was great fun. The reason I won’t forget it is that we were surrounded by a pod of hippos at one stage and did not know whether we were going to make it back to camp or not. This eclipsed my most daring adventure by far.

There are many people who have had interactions with these amazing animals but few know how and when they started living in the same habitat. What follows is a Zulu story of how Hippo came to live with Crocodile.

01Kyle Hippo LBC

Many moons back, Hippo was very unhappy. Hippo was unhappy because she was always being very badly burnt by the sun. So badly in fact that her skin was always pink! One of the days was particularly unbearable and so Hippo made her way down to the river to see if she could not try cool her singed hide. Upon nearing the swiftly flowing waters of the river, Hippo sensed danger and from the water in front of her came Crocodile all teeth, thrashing tail and little mercy. Hippo was so startled that she turned around and lumbered off as fast as she could in fright. Crocodile chuckled and gurgled hideously until he slunk back into the water, proud of himself for protecting his watery domain.

02Kyle Test 826

Every day Hippo would try and approach the river, and every day Crocodile would chase her off. One day Hippo decided she would be brave and not run away. When Crocodile flew out of the water to chase her off, he was surprised to see that Hippo was still there. Today Hippo stood up for herself and said to Crocodile “Please don’t chase me off, please let me come live with you in your cool watery home so that I don’t burn so badly” and Crocodile’s response was as expected, “NO!”, whereupon he slithered back into the water and disappeared beneath the murk.

03Kruger Park December 2011 1038

Hippo turned away, sad and sore, but vowed to return again to try her luck tomorrow. And without fail she returned every day for a very long time, always using the same path to go back and forward, and each time it was the same response from Crocodile, “NO!”.

After a very long time, Hippo decided it was enough. Once Crocodile had begun to turn after his daily rebuke, Hippo grabbed hold of his tail and would not let go. Crocodile turned around, now very angry, and shouted “I SAID NO!” But Hippo took none of it and began to plead her case. The more Crocodile watched and listened the more he saw just how much pain Hippo was in. Eventually Crocodile relented and said to Hippo, “Alright! If it stops you from disturbing me every day I will allow you to share my home. On one condition though! Whenever you have to poo you have to shake your tail so that it gets spread around. I want you to do this so that I can see that you are not stealing any of my fish to eat.”

04Croc Bonamanzi

Hippo was greatly relieved and immediately jumped into the water with a resounding splash and letting out a loud and happy laugh!

05Kyle Hippo Teeth 3

To this day, the Hippopotamus shakes its tail vigorously so as to mark its territory and so that Crocodile can come and look and see if Hippo has eaten any of his fish.

  • Blog by Sheldon Hooper (Bush Lodge Ranger)
  • Photos by Kyle Strautmann
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