HOW TO MOVE A HIPPO

How do you move a hippo?

I mean: it’s a great, big lumbering animal with the weight of a car!

We were fortunate to have both the honour and the opportunity to witness this historical event on Kaingo Game Reserve.

Jacques, our reserve manager, has been scouting for a few hippos that were used to living in a dam for some time when he got word of a couple (cow and calf) in a nearby dam that needed to be relocated because of population pressure. This was a golden opportunity for Kaingo…and so the plans began to take shape.

To catch a live hippo is not as easy as it may seem. Chemical immobilisation is not an option; the anesthetised hippo will drown, and waiting for it on land is futile, as the hippo would rush for the safety of the water as soon as the dart hit. This leaves only one option.
A passive capture boma is a small enclosure where animals are lured into with food. Being rather large and hungry, we were optimistic that this option would be a breeze! Wait for the hippo to enter the boma, remotely close the gate, and then load them onto the waiting transport truck.

How wrong can one be…?

They did not, under any circumstances, go into the passive boma together. The cow would move in, feed, move out and then the calf would get its turn. So much for that idea…

We were forced into a waiting game.

On the morning of 27 November, we got the call. Both mother and calf are in the boma; they are loaded. The truck is on its way.

A frantic race to get their new home, Lilly dam, ready for their arrival came about. A place to build a ramp to gently let them off the vehicle had to be selected. The earthmoving machine had to scrape enough sand together to make a ramp up to the door of the truck. We needed someone to capture the moment…

Luckily, we had our guests from New York with us, who were all too happy to be part of this great event.

We were safely parked on the western side of the dam, where we could see and experience the whole relocation in technicolour. The truck drove past us at a snail’s pace. Through the grid-covered openings on the side of the truck we could see the new arrivals’ legs; but only their legs. We moved into position.

The truck drove down the steep slope… and got stuck.

The earth moving machine and its driver raced to the rescue. A few minutes of digging, rearranging the makeshift path to enable the truck to negotiate the slope. No sooner did the truck reverse up to the sand bank created for the ramp, when the yellow machine darted forward to complete the offloading ramp.

The moment of truth came. The sliding door of the transport truck was slowly opened, ourselves looking from a distance, the conservation team safely on top of the truck.

And then she came out. Mrs Hippo slowly led the way. Calmly, almost royally, she walked down the ramp, with her calf a short distance behind. Sniffed the air, the soil. Water. And slowly she got in.

It took a lot of self-control not to cheer out loud to her dignified entrance into Lilly dam. She submerged, looked around, and proceeded to explore the dam, even wading close to our waiting camera lenses for a relative close-up picture.

The truck left, the sand bank was expertly levelled, and we left for breakfast.

Lilly dam on Kaingo Game Reserve is now home to two beautiful hippos!

BUSHVELD GREETINGS