Happy Hippos!

 Saturday, March 4, 2023

We began our day with a breakfast river cruise on the St. Lucia estuary in St. Lucia, in the KwaZulu-Natal province.  The town and surrounding wetlands was declared a world heritage site in 1999 by Unesco.  It is known mostly for having the largest free-roaing Hippo population, estimated at 800!

We caught the happy hippos during their morning nap time, grunting and snorting in their family groups.  We learned a lot about hippos from our boat captain. Moozi.  

A hippo's skin is about 2 inches thick, and very sensitive to heat, thus they spend much of the day in water to stay cool.  They can't swim or float, but can stay under water for six minutes at a time.  They move by "bouncing" and bounding off the bottom of the riverbeds.  

They are very territorial, and kill more humans each year than any other animal, mainly when they feel threatened.  The hippos roam at night foraging food--they eat primarily grass and sometimes fruit.   We were warned not to walk in town after dark, as the hippos are regular visitors throughout the night.  It is one of the largest land mammals (after elephants and rhinos).  We saw several pods of hippos lounging around in the water.

After the cruise we drove back to the national park.  We went through Mtubatuba (love the names of these cities and we are entertained by trying to pronounce them!)

 Today we explored the other side of the park--the Hluhluwe Game Reserve.  We saw beautiful views, 

and an assortment of animals.    Baboons...lots of fun to watch!

and we never get tired of zebras!  Love seeing all of the different stripes.

                            African buffalos

                    and more crazy roads...

We finally arrived at our next stop...Sundowner Lodge Caravan Park in Piet Retief South Africa. The town was very busy--the Saturday market was going on and there were people everywhere enjoying a Saturday.

We wrapped up the night with a yummy South African buffet dinner in the lodge at the campground with a special sip of a South African favorite liquor (can't pronounce it) and a campfire afterwards.   This is a fun group of people to be with!

 It was another long day, and I bet everyone will be able to sleep as well as the happy hippos!