Wolhuter Escorts Hippo from London to Swaziland.
Bizarre but true.
In 1984, Whipsnade Zoo in London was closing its hippo exhibit and donated a 4 year old male hippo, Paul, to Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary in Swaziland.
This may sound like taking coal to Newcastle, but in those days hippo capture hadn’t been perfected and animals died in capture operations. It was also extremely dangerous. My dad was involved in hippo capture back in the ‘60s and actually rode a wild hippo while trying to get a rope around it. Now that was wild stuff AND wild guys.
So I was sent over to London to collect Paul. I arrived there in my shorts much to the dismay of the English as it was the middle of winter.
Paul was all ready for capture from his pen. For months they had been feeding him in the crate he would be transported in. As regular as clock work Paul went into the crate the next morning and the door was closed. Well they tried to close the door and it was jammed. Paul realising what was going on retreated hastily and refused to go back into his crate all day.
Time was running out. I told the guys that if I arrived back in Swaziland without Paul, I would be dead meat and we had to load Paul into the crate.
The vet was called and Paul was darted. We had hoped to push him into the crate before he collapsed completely but that didn’t go according to plan.
Here I was, a lone little African, with a whole bunch of zoo keepers standing around feeling sorry for their little Paul and with a slight dilemma on how to move this beast weighing several tonnes.
I realised it was time I took over. I ordered a tractor and rope and tied the rope around Paul’s midriff and then told the tractor driver to haul him into the crate.
Well that caused a major uproar! The zoo keepers couldn’t believe what I was about to do to their beloved Paul.
With logs lain on the ground in front of him Paul slid effortlessly across them and into the crate.
Then the journey started. We trucked Paul all the way to Dover. Jumped on the ferry across to Calais and then trucked on to Charles De Gaul airport in Paris.
Paul was now fully awake in his crate and relaxed when I fed and watered him.
We loaded up onto a Combi Boeing, which is a plane that carries about half cargo and half passengers, and off to Johannesburg.
I had access to the back of the plane to check on Paul regularly. The pilot didn’t mention to the passengers that they had a full grown hippo on board until we were approaching Johannesburg International Airport.
Safely on African soil for the first time in his life I dowsed Paul with a fire extinguisher, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
But his journey wasn’t over yet. We still had another 5 hours drive to Mlilwane, which was without hiccup and Paul was released to live the life of a free hippo.
Today Paul is well with his own harem of girls.
Weathering has decapitated these men. And besides being men it’s hard to see what they’re actually carrying or doing.
They do seem to be a part of a bigger picture, unless this has flaked away.
21st March 2000
Still pacing around camp. When I got up early before sunrise I was amazed to see an elephant trying to cross the very swollen Sand river. He crossed over a narrow stretch of water on to a small island. Then seemed to want to cross the main stream which would surely wash him away. He stared ahead for a short while and probably realising there was no ways he was going to cross, he shook his head violently in a threatening gesture to the river, and returned from whence he’d come.
It’s always a treat to see a herd of eland as these animals, although not actually rare, are only found in a few areas in Africa.
And unfortunately man is, just boxing in those big herds that require so much space, all the time.
These antelope have never really come to accept man wherever they occur and tend to be nervous trotting away just as one stops to get a better look at them.
They also have incredible stamina and can trot and trot endlessly. A pack of hyaenas in the Kalahari was recorded to have chased one 23kms before bringing it down. Quite a feat for both animals.
My only experience with eland landed me in much the same state I’m in right now.
I was in Swaziland and we had to capture this eland bull to translocate him to another reserve. We darted the animal and then had to stay with it until the drug took effect. As expected, as soon as the dart him he took off at a trot. We let him get quite some distance ahead so as not to disturb him too much before following after him in the land rover.
I was on the back standing up but hanging on as we raced along a track to cut him off. The track ahead forked, and as the eland was off to the right I was prepared to lean into the corner to take the right fork. Well the driver had other ideas and went left. At 60km/hour I didn’t have any purchase leaning the wrong way and was flung from the land rover to go tumbling in the dirt. No problem, I was up, dusted myself and back on the vehicle again. We caught up to the eland, which had now come to a standstill but hadn’t gone down. It was now my job to grapple with him, get a rope around and tie him to the vehicle until the crate arrived.
All went according to plan and the eland was loaded and successfully translocated.
I successfully translocated myself home without much ado.
But the next morning I woke up feeling as if I’d been hit by a bus. I couldn’t move a muscle and had to be helped out of bed. My whole body was stiff and sore. Eventually by the end of the day I was walking again and the following day back on the job again.
I wish my shoulder would heal that quickly. Although I must say it’s doing pretty well.
I suppose they call it old age.
The majestic spiral horns of this kudu bull are unmistakable.
Unfortunately I can’t make out what that feint figure is behind the kudu. Possibly a hunter about to draw his bow.
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