Beware of Hippos
As we were waiting for our dinner in the village of Sitalike bordering Katavi National Park a man approached us asking where we were staying. As he suspected, we were at the one tourist hotel in town and proceeded to warn us not to walk back after dark because that’s when the hippos leave the water. After spending an afternoon watching hippos in the river near our campsite we actually paid attention to this normally laughable statement.
As it turns out, hippos are the most dangerous animals to encounter on foot, followed by elephants and buffaloes, all herbivores and all very large. We encountered all three on our walking safari in Katavi and unlike the skittish zebras, bushbucks, etc. these giant grazers didn’t run away and ignored us. Just to be safe, our armed ranger loaded his gun when some buffalo bachelors wandered too close. Walking through the dry scrublands stumbling upon only animals it was pretty easy to feel absolutely alone in this vast and remote Tanzanian park. This feeling of isolation was actually quite accurate given that the last entry in the visitors registry was two weeks ago.
Finally, there is a silver lining to being in the middle of nowhere.
Tags: Tanzania
Adam
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