Written by Stacie Wright (University of Vermont)
The Thamalakane river borders the campsite that we stay at in Maun. On many occasions we’ve been able to catch a glimpse of a hippo that moves up and down the river. We come back to Island Safari campground in Maun between changes in location and have seen the hippo each time. Usually we only catch a glimpse of its head or back sticking above the water, and it could easily be mistaken for a rock. Sometimes we see just the ears poking out, and it will immediately re-submerged and reappear several meters away. The hippo moves extremely quickly when it moves far down the river in just seconds.
Hippos are extremely large herbivores native to sub-Sahara Africa. They are big blocky animals with rounded bodies and very short stubby legs. Although they have short legs and low hanging bellies they move surprisingly fast. They can run up to 30 km/hr. They have thick dark brownish gray skin that is sensitive to the sun. They spent most of their days submerged in the water or mud to avoid predators as well as the sun. Hippos do not have sweat glands so are unable to protective themselves effectively from the sun during the day. They leave the water at night to graze on grass. The hippo is an extremely important for the ecosystem and in the Okavango Delta particularly because they create channels in the waterways that allow other creatures such as fish and crocodiles to move about.
The first time we were at Island Safari we saw a hippo for a moment stick his head out and opened his mouth wide and made a grunting sound. A hippo yawns to display its huge sharp teeth to show a sign of dominance and to scare off intruders.
When we were in Sankuyo we saw a hippo one day when we were out doing a bird survey. There were many large puddles on our drive from the constant rain that had been happening. The hippo was submerged in one of these puddles, which we were surprised at because it was a seemingly small puddle.
At our first day in Mababe students on a transect saw a group of 14 hippos in a small river. There were two adult males, three younger hippos and nine unidentifiable.
On our most recent trip to Maun we went on a boat ride on the river. As we came back and were about to reach the dock, the driver announced there was a hippo. It was only a few meters from the boat and we could only see ripples as evidence as we tried to skirt around the area in the water where we thought it was. After we docked on shore we noticed the hippo had fully emerged from the water and was standing on the bank in the grass. This is a rare sight as they usually stay submerged, but our boat must have startled it out. The single hippo we see at Maun as well as the hippo in Sankuyo we think may have been male because males more often are alone while females may be found in small groups.