The Hippopotamus!

The most dangerous animal in Africa, in fact the whole world, is the hippopotamus. This may come as a surprise because they are kind of cute and chubby and they seem to just bob around in the water. Also, they are vegetarians and it is a commonly held belief that vegetarians are gentle and non-aggressive. Well, that is not true, at least when comes it comes to hippos. This is what they can do.

We took a delightful cruise through the Kazinga Channel in Uganda (a 20 mile long water channel that connects Lake George in the east to Lake Edward in the west) when, with a loud thump the boat suddenly lurched, startling the almost 50 passengers aboard. Turned out it was a hippo who had swum under the boat and was attempting to overturn us. This is a common practice of theirs causing the deaths of dozens of indigenous fishermen every year.

There are more than 20 fishing villages inside Queen Elizabeth National Park. When the park was established in 1952, people already living on the lake shores who fished for their livelihood were allowed to remain. Today they have an uneasy relationship with the hippos, both vying for shrinking habitat.

The small skiffs are easy targets for the hippos who can weigh up to 9,000 lb. and grow to 16.5 feet long.

It was a very hot day. We saw a large herd of elephants make their way down a rather steep slope to the water only to turn quickly around. Was it because our boat was there and they had a tiny baby? As we noted before, elephants are very protective of their little ones. 

They climbed back up the incline to the ridge above with the big bull elephant in the lead. However, a couple of the youngsters began having difficulty reaching the highest point. 

We watched as two of the adults led the little ones back down and then chose an easier route to the top which the youngsters were able to manage. 

The bird life on the Kazinga Channel is abundant and very beautiful. 

Grey headed Kingfisher

White Pelicans and Cormorants

Heron

White Egret