Hippo Boat Ride

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sun 17 Nov 2019 23:57
Boat Ride to See the Hippos of St Lucia, South Africa
 
 
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We jumped up this morning to find our ‘house guests’ sitting in the lounge. Kimi and Trevor asked them nicely to leave and I think they were relieved to do so. Sitting outside eating breakfast we watched a red-billed hornbill scruffing about and had a visit from a different ‘small chap’ than yesterday.
 
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We set off for St Lucia stopping to let a frog cross the road and were soon tucked up in a cavernous curio shop awaiting our boat ride time slot. Kimi and I went for the local lady hat and Trevor a fur head collar with tail.
 
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A shiny, happy chap bimbled along a branch.
 
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Outside the car park attendant was selling seed pods he had made into tealight holders – had to buy some of those.
 
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Local art as we neared the dock.
 
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We boarded our boat, settled to listen to Brown our skipper and guide, he was very interesting and knowledgeable, telling us that if we walked on the beaches in the local area we would get black, dusty feet – titanium. He was sorry we would see no crocodiles but soon after setting off we caught our first glimpse of a ‘Towny’.
 
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The Townies are a family group of about twenty-two hippos who live by the opposite bank to where we set out from. Townies because they like to bimble down the High Street and other than causing tourists to shriek, are well known and cause little damage if left to get on with it.
 
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The Townies bull has blue eyes and bluish eyelids.......
 
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High above us in the trees was this gorgeous girl, the African sea eagle. We took a cul de sac to see hundreds of weaver birds about their business. Sadly, the water level is up at least a metre and a half so many of the nests are flooded. There is a lack of bank space so no crocodiles are around either.
 
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Huge numbers of nests, too many near the water. Then we watched in horror as a desperate mum attended to her baby.
 
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All on board wanted to go to this little chaps aid. He must be knee deep and looks so forlorn.
 
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On we went, not sure who the No Entry sign is for........
 
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We spotted this chap............
 
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.......then all around us heads popped up.
 
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Pig-like ??? – their nearest relatives are actually whales and dolphins. A big yawn.
 
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The dominant male made himself known to us. He leads The Big Gang, a pod of up to forty creatures who spend most of the day in the water on the side of the lake we left from but bimble out of the water on the opposite side. Their group names are Pod, Bloat, Herd, Dale or Crash....The biggest pod ever known was up to four hundred hippos. These heavyweights weigh it at between one and a half to five tons and eat up to thirty-five kilos of grass each evening and sleep for up to sixteen hours a day. They guard their territories aggressively, can live up to forty years but their overall numbers are in decline.
 
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Hippos can sleep happily in the water, their nose holes close over and they can hold their breath for up to five minutes. They don’t swim but bimble about on the bottom. Hippo fossil remains have been found in England, Europe, the Middle East and of course all over Africa. They have the largest teeth of any land animal, only a third is visible (the rest hidden behind the jaw bone) their front teeth can grow up to a foot in length and the males can sport shiny whites up to eighteen inches. They are the deadliest large animal killing at least five hundred people a year. They fall into the world ranking behind mosquitoes, snakes, dogs, tsetse flies and crocodiles.
 
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We got to watch this lady as she minced about the rushes on her enormous feet. The purple gallinule always looks as if someone has squadged a dollop of red plasticine on their head and left fingerprints for good measure.
 
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As we crossed the water we were lucky enough to see some of the Big Gang grazing, oh and some in the water.
 
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The paddlers were watched by a pied wagtail.
 
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One stood to leave the water and left a poop as it went.
 
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Very delicately done for such a big creature, Out, up and over to join the grazers.
 
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Can we think a hippo cute looking ???
 
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The next one out of the water seemed awfully pink ??? They secrete an oily red substance which gave rise to the myth that hippos sweat blood – but it is a natural sunblock that fills the pores and protects against infections. 
 
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We left the grazers of The Big Gang to their munching and headed back to the dock.
 
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Favourite picture – that looked like she was smiling.
 
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A sepia tone of the lake.
 
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Wonderful late lunch at a place chosen purely for its name – The Dirty Dog and the fact that outside was a long line of canna lilies reminding us of the many that grew in Bear’s parents garden.
 
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Bear’s steak was soft and juicy as was Kimi’s burger. Trevor and I had cheesy chips that seemed to go on forever. Fully fortified we went in search of the boardwalk to see what we could see.
 
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Sadly, the water level covered the walkway so we headed to a supermarket for party food. Kimi showed us how difficult it would be to drink out of a giraffe mug – the horn kept getting in the way. Back to our digs for snacks and sherbets.
 
 
ALL IN ALL AMAZING CREATURES
                    REALLY LUCKY TO SEE SOME OUT OF THE WATER