This was an incredible and exhilarating experience observing hippo activity close up, along the edge of the Mopani dam, in the Kruger National Park, South Africa.

On arriving at the Mopani camp:

We park our car, and went into the booking office. And in entering, we were rather surprised, for it was an impressive sized room and beautifully decorated. 

While our daughter organized our booking, my husband and I looked around us at the interesting stuff in the room. Things about the camp and Kruger National Park were displayed there. 

After the booking was done:

We took our car and looked for the cottage allotted to us somewhere in the warren of roads within the camp. The camp was interestingly and widely laid out. The cottages weren’t sitting close to each other. This gave each cottage some privacy.

 Our cottage turned out to be a dinky homely lodge. Even though it wasn’t too far from the Tsende River’s Pioneer Reservoir Dam area, we couldn’t actually see the water from our cottage. 

After settling in:

We went for a stroll over to where the Tundlova Restaurant was situated, but didn’t go in. Instead we went around to the lookout area. And there I took photos of the dam looking west.  

We could just see some elephants roaming on what seemed an island. But by that time, the sun was setting and creating dark silhouettes. So it was hard to get any nice clear photos of the scene before us. 

Here is what I did get though:

Zooming in some more, I was able to focus closer in, on this shadowy scene of the water: 

Then we noticed a Fish Eagle sitting high up on a dry leafless tree sticking up from the centre of the water. Twilight is a good time to fish, so I suppose he was carefully observing the water below and around him, for his supper snack. 

It was getting dark,

So we went back to our cottage.  

Back at our cottage I went to lie down because I wasn’t feeling so great. I can’t remember if I ate any supper or not. But my bed was very welcome and comfy. 

The next day very early:

My husband wanted to sleep in, so our daughter and I put on warm clothing and crept quietly out of the cottage and walked in the direction where we thought the dam was. 

And there it was… but there was a high strong fence bordering the dam edge! Oh Well, we had no option, but accept that. Fences are there for our protection for the wild animals I suppose! 

A dynamic spot to observe the dam:

Looking up and down the fence… we spotted a section of the fence that was much closer to the dam’s edge. In fact right on the edge of the dam and a large stone with the fence running across it. 

So we settled down close to the fence very quietly, not saying a word and looked around us.  

We felt so exhilarated by the ambience. Even though we couldn’t see any elephants across the dam on the other side’s sandy shore, we decided it was a special moment in the quietness and stillness of the early morning that it presented. 

Suddenly!!

There was a hippo’s grunt right there where we sat! WOW, what a fright we got. We nearly jumped out of our skins! But where was it? We couldn’t see it! 

And again, there was a grunt… 

And then we realized the grunting sound was coming from under the deep water, just below the rock where we sat. The hippo must have been foraging under water just there where we were sitting! 

It was so scary and so close, what should we do?  

Now what?!

And then there was quietness, not a sound… he (or maybe it was a she!) must have moved on… 

But, oh no… another grunt, and some more grunts every now again. We couldn’t see any activity from our position. But the very fact we were right there above this hippo, was frightening in itself.  

Was it aware of us? And had it come there for a bit of fun, at our expense perhaps?! 

Were we in danger?!

Should we stay there? It could come to the surface any moment! …And then what? Perhaps it would ram the fence? Would the fence still stand strong against its huge tank–like bulk? 

Should we stay there and be brave?

After a few more grunts, there was stillness. It seemed the hippo was no longer there. So we stayed a while longer and soaked in the beauty of the early morning, until it was time to go back to our cottage and eat our breakfast. 

That was the beginning of another wonderful day…. 

…But that I’ll leave for the next Kruger Park day’s outing (travel post).