and a place we hadn't been to in 4 years. As we got there I said to Stefan "Look there are those rocks that we always thought looked like a hippo in the water" and Stefan replied " That IS a hippo"......
"OH! Sure enough !" To be honest we've seen hippos here before ( right Bartz family?!) and were told not to be too worried although our kids were a little skeptical. ( as was I ). There were a few village kids nearby fishing only a few meters away but we still kept a keen eye on the hippo as we began to set up camp - everything in our favorite camping spot in the world seemed as though it hadn't changed at all. A bit later on I went to check on the kids who seemed a wee bit too close to the shore and we discovered a man setting up a forked branch to use as a gunstand and was aiming his gun right at the hippo. Was he really going to try and shoot that thing? I began to envision all sorts of horrible drama should he miss and and an angry hippo charging right at us....we backed away to our camp and I got out the binoculars. What I discovered: That hippo was a MAMA and had a little one nearby!! so by this point Stefan had gone to discuss the ensuing drama with some locals and was told the hippo was too close to land and dangerous to people so an official government approved shooter was brought in to get rid of it. (nevermind the baby hippo). At this point a very brave man hopped into his dugout canoe to stir the mama hippo up out of the water - of course to give the shooter better aim). We were at our camp about 20 meters away and I was poised with my lens zoomed in.
RIGHT as she opened her big ole' jaws the gun went off and the hippo went down! Seriously?! He went down with ONE SHOT! We were amazed....everyone waited in silence. As Stefan headed closer to survey the scene I prepared the kids to be ready to jump in the car should an angry hippo come charging out of the water. But he didn't. After about 10 minutes some brave villagers hopped in a boat to check it out. After poking a stick around for awhile they suddenly let out a cheer and villagers appeared from everywhere jumping up and down and cheering wildly !!
What happened over the next 15 hours was just crazy for us " azungus" ( white people) to witness.
I was most worried about that baby hippo ( not that I was about to go rescue it). I saw him come up for air once and take a dive underwater.....never to be seen again. ( still kinda wonder where he went)
THEN the boat guys attached a rope to that poor lifeless mama hippo and dragged her closer to shore where villagers charged in and started jumping up and down on it like a trampoline !! At this point my camera batteries were going bad and I learned from talking to a nice local guy that it was too late in the day to butcher so it would all happen in the morning. Lucky for us (?!) they brought the hippo much closer to shore a mere 5 meters from our tent and tied it to a tree....the excitement of the hippo trampoline died down after awhile and we slept in some sort of peace knowing that the hippo so near to our tent was just a big, bouncing mass of lifelessness floating nearby and not really a threat of danger. ( still, a bit wierd....and you can imagine the questions about hippos, dead or alive, the kids had for hours on end). We ate chicken that night, btw.
The next morning went from interesting to grotesque! But I had new camera batteries and we all leaped out of our sleeping bags ready and waiting....as by then a few villagers were already there for one last bit of trampoline fun. Pretty soon the chosen ones ( I have no idea how that works) lined up to attempt to roll that massive mama even closer to shore. We all watched for some time.
Finally, she was just too heavy so what better time than to just start hacking away. All 4 legs went first....this took about an hour...one bloody leg at a time !
( the photos will start to get progressively worse so bug out now if necessary).
This grotesque hacking continued for some time......so while initially we azungus got in with the crowd ( Stefan in the orange shirt - of course he wanted to go touch the hippo leg and give a little advise on how best to roll her in)
Stefan also spent alot of time talking to this guy ( see below) - the hunter himself who was hanging around to get a good look at the bullet wound that brought the hippo down. Apparently Stefan asked too many questions.....and was told it was enough. (he was enquiring of what KIND of gun and size of bullet and how often he has shot hippo before) But he did learn that the hippo teeth are protected and would be taken in for government protection). I showed him my photo of the hippo with his jaws open which at least brought a smile on his face.
Eventually the odor became so horribly overwhelming and the sights too much for me to allow my children to see......
(if you care to see a photo of the hugest intestines I've seen in my lifetime....let me know!)
So we headed back the 5 meters to our tent and did what any westerners might do at this point, that is, sit in our lawn chairs with our insulated coffee mugs and watch from a safe distance.
Eventually it became almost boring....and I began to wish it would all be finished. Our own kids started entertaining
And then the Manager of our camp and nearby Lodge arrived and told them this shouldn't be happening on their property. ( about 12 hours too late). So they hooked up that intestine exposed carcass and dragged it behind a motorboat to a different part of beach......and while I had renewed shock about this next turn of events, I was just glad it was nearly over. ( keep in mind, we usually swim in this lake......usually)
Unfortunately the hacked pieces sitting nicely on the palm leaves remained for QUITE some time with several locals guarding them. Eventually, in the distance, we heard another cheer and a truck arrived to load it up. Of course the truck with hunks of hippo hanging off its side drove RIGHT past our tent as it came to load up the chunks remaining on our beach....I had wrongly assumed that meat would be thrown out to all these happy locals - but it turns out it was going for 500 kwacha per 1 kg. That's a little over a $1.50. ( for one insane moment I entertained buying some......at this point we were just too grossed out to take part)
Once the truck took off for good there was another half hour or so of people selling off chunks to their friends and people coming back for the bits they stole and hid under tree leaves (all of which we were first hand witnessed to) and THEN IT WAS OVER.
Eventually we took in 3 more days of beautiful sunshine, pool swimming, and gorgeous lake views.......sans hippo kill !
Thanks for sharing our adventure !
Location:Blantyre, Malawi
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