SOME BACKGROUND ON HIPPO VIDEO, WHICH NOW HAS OVER 3.2 MILLION VIEWS ON YOU TUBE Message received by Toby Jermyn of Pangolin Safari in Kasane (pangolinphoto) about the viral Youtube video of a Hippo charge on the Chobe that was previously posted on this wall and @ youtube/watch?v=Su7GkqwxG08 Dear Jeff At the beginning of the year one of our clients captured this amazing footage of a hippo charging our photo boat in The Chobe. Please click on the image above to be redirected to the official Youtube page to view this footage.This video has gone viral and has even been played by several TV news networks around the world as well as 3,000,000 times on Youtube! What happened that day (6th January 2015) We are in the middle of the rainy season in Botswana and as you can see the grass is long and the animals well fed and active. Its at this time of year that the huge numbers of hippos on the Chobe enter their breeding season. Hippos (Hippopotamus Amphibious) are very territorial animals and we are always aware of their position on the river so as to give them a wide berth. Throughout most of the year the hippos ignore the boat and we can photograph them using our long lenses. If they feel that we are getting too close they will often open their immense jaws in a display of warning that we are encroaching on their territory too much but thats about it....they then return to a more sedate posture. During breeding season however the bulls (males) have huge amount of testosterone coursing through their veins and they become very aggressive....mostly to one another. We have often witnessed brutal fights between rival males (from a very safe distance of course). In the video you can see that our clients were photographing these hippos from quite some distance when the hippo decided to charge. Our guides are well experienced and, in some instances, know particular animals who are known aggressors in certain parts of the river and guides give them an ever wider berth. Whats really staggering is their speed through the water. They literally run along the bottom of the river rather than swimming and then launch themselves upwards. The bow wave is the general warning but the guides know that the animal is several meters closer than the front of the wave! We have never once had an instance where we have been hit by a hippo as the guides are too wary for that but there have been instances where the animals strike another boat or their outboard engine causing huge damage. They have 12 protruding tusks on their lower jaws that can puncture the hull of a boat with ease especially when you consider that there is several tonnes of angry animal behind it! Hippos are amazing animals and a joy to photograph especially when displaying to each other but we must always remember that they are without doubt Africas biggest killer (from the mammals anyway) and they should always be treated with respect.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 11:59:09 +0000