On my first trip to South Africa, I saw a good number of Hippo’s from a distance through my binoculars, but it wasn’t until I saw one up close that I realized just how big these animals were. We had just driven down into a ravine on a dirt road that had a pond about 800 yards long and 600-yards-wide, when I saw a large bull hippo with a couple of females, at the back. He immediately let out a loud bellow and began slowly moving towards us. About half-way he raised his head, chopped his teeth and let out a loud grunt. He was telling us that this was his pond and his females, and we were intruders. He kept coming and when he was about 30 yards away, he opened his mouth, bellowed and chopped his teeth. Daniel my outfitter said, “he is saying it is time to leave”, so we did. I got a great picture of him with his mouth wide open. Did you know that a group of hippos is called a “Pod?”
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