Pirates Of The Savannah

Masai Mara National Reserve

If Lions are kings I guess no one sent the memo over to the hippo camp and if they did, the Hippos would just eat it and not care. If Lions were kings, Hippos would be the pirates with their own coastal territory that kings steer clear of. Kinda like Pirates of the Caribbean.

They are the deadliest land animals that kill 500 humans on average a year in Africa and they’re even deadlier in the water. I remember the story of how post covid, a brainiac got off his safari vehicle to take pictures of a hippo in Masai Mara and got bitten straight in half. He was (get this) approaching a HIPPO WITH A PHONE. So much for being the smarter species. The Authorities slapped him with a trespass charge and ended that right there.

I understand the guy’s plight though, kinda. Photographing these guys isn’t easy. At 4 feet height and 11 feet length, getting a frame isn’t easy. Add to that, they’re usually half submerged and the rivers are usually way below land level. I got lucky when my guy in pick 1 looked at us on land and he was kinda at eye level with me laying in the SUV, which had it’s door taken off to do these things. So yeah, you’re usually shooting at an angle with the subject half submerged or you can’t get all of the subject to fit in one frame and you’re basically never really getting the right perspective that you hoped for.

So, these guys just don’t care. They eat everything, shit where they eat, sleep in their own shit, oh and the smell. Not hard to tell what part of the river has Hippos. But then why would a Hippo care? His shit don’t make him sick. He’s the second largest land animal with none of the gentleness of the Elephant in him. He can bite a 10 foot croc in half with his 2000 psi bite force. The Hippo has no reason to care or worry if he’s with his herd. They’re untouchable.