Hippo attack

At Monate lodge we also had an exciting encounter with a couple of hippos. The hippos live in a pond with a levee around it, so the (constantly death-defying) ranger got off the jeep and climbed the levee to see where they were. They were on the far side of the pond, so the ranger allowed us to climb up next to him. The hippos started swimming towards us, which I thought was friendly of them - we probably should have brought buns, or something. Half-way across the pond the big male stopped to yawn, massively.

"He's displaying," the ranger said. "Back on the jeep, everyone." I thought this was a suggestion rather than an order, so I lingered, hoping to get a better photo when the hippos came closer (it was sunset, the light was poor, and I was getting shakey photos). "We have to go," said the ranger. "If he comes out of the water he'll come up this bank very fast." I looked around and saw that my fellow guests had disappeared. Oddly enough I still felt reluctant to go - can such a big animal really heave itself out of the water and run up a slope at speed? Surely we'd have plenty of time to wander back to the jeep? The ranger was half-way back to the vehicle, abandoning me to my fate (this, presumably, is why you always have to sign a waiver of indemnity form in these places - if you get squashed by a hippo it's nobody's fault but your own). Wimps, I thought - but then I suddenly felt very lonely and vulnerable. I turned and ran.