A Short Reflection on Hippos

We saw a few groups of hippos during our trip through Ngorongoro and the Serengeti, but never got really close. These photos pretty much sum up their activities.

They spend most of their day bathing in rivers and streams, occasionally emerging to sunbathe and nibble on grasses. At night they travel to graze — up to six miles! Although they look like oil drums with heads, they’re actually pretty fast, able to run nearly twenty miles an hour on those stubby legs, and are considered very dangerous. I never realized that they have webbed feet.

A group of hippos is variously called a herd, a pod, a dale, or — my personal favorite — a bloat.