The new season has started and every one is full is excitement for the upcoming months. 6 days have passed and boy has it been a fun week. The river is slowly drying out, exposing more sand in front of the lodge, and more hippo are beeing seen than in March.
(Hippo relaxing on the sand bank in front of the dining area.)
At Sand Rivers, we are blessed to have large Hippo populations right in the river in front of us. They move between keeping cool in the water to resting on the sand banks. They are in the process of courting the females right now, and often pull each other into the water for a bit of fun!
(A male Hippo leads the way to the water with a female close behind.)
Although you see Hippo lay side by side in the water, they don't actually form social bonds, and when they leave the water at night, they feed individually. Travelling up to 10 kilometres at night if necessary.
(Hippo leaving the water and crossing the road at 20:00 to go and feed.)
Hippo are herbivores and primarily feed on grass, eating up to 60 kilograms of grass at night. Males and females each weigh over a ton, making them the 3rd largest land mammal behind the Elephant and the Rhino.
(Another Hippo returns at about 02:00 with a full belly!)
I hope to shed more light onto the lives of some more of these incredible species in the weeks and months ahead. Keep posted for more of these night time images!