Hippo tours!! :)

Nile perch and greens

A few weeks ago one of my friends called me on a random Sunday and asked if I wanted to go out to a spot on the lakeshore for a fish lunch and boat ride with some friends.  There were 10 of us, and we had a huge lunch of Nile perch and tilapia that were fresh from the lake, cooked or fried right next to us, and smothered in greens. Here they serve everything ugali (oo-gall-ee). Ugali is made of maize flour, and it has the consistency of a wet, sticky, dense cornbread and tastes like absolutely nothing.     The whole meal was eaten with our fingers: you take a hunk of ugali, roll it into a ball, then dig into the whole steaming fish covered in greens and eat it all together with your hands.

Beer and fish :)

That white mountain is ugali!

It was an awesome meal! Heavy carbs, salty greens, tasty fish, and a cold beer all made for a nice brunch by the lake. After that we negotiated a boat ride, but I didn’t know we were planning on going to see hippos and I didn’t bring my camera!!  Total rookie mistake! But we had a lovely hour-long boat ride and saw a few hippos hiding under water but coming up to breathe, a lot of birds, and a fair amount of crazy storm clouds coming across the lake. The water was calm for our 30 minute trip away from our starting point, but when we turned around to come home, the wind picked up pretty noticeably, and for the last 15 minutes we were all hugging our bags, bundled in raincoats, and fighting some whipping waves in our wooden motor canoe! At the end most of us were a bit soggy with lakewater (ew), but it was really nice to be out on the lake, and I love a good storm!

The crew :)

The storm!

I was excited when one of my neighbors stopped by and invited me to go on another hippo boat ride - this one was planned for sunrise, which is when the hippos are still active from their nocturnal foraging :) I was glad to have another excuse to go, but this time I was ready to bring my big camera! We woke up super early and 3 of my neighbors and I climbed onto motorbike taxis and headed to the launching point, appropriately named Hippo Point.

Rainbow over the Yacht Club

Our trusty vessel

It was a gorgeous sunrise, and from the boat launch I could hear the hippos grunting! We didn't have to go very far to find them....they were about 100 yards away from us just standing in the shallow water! The first scene we arrived to was a male "taking care of" his harem of ladies. He must have been feeling pretty spunky, because we observed the splashing and other activities associated with his morning duties for quite some time...being the biologist that I am, I found it pretty interesting and entertaining (it's like watching the Discovery Channel IN PERSON!!), but the ladies I was with thought it was a bit icky.

Male hippo taking care of his ladies at sunrise

After a while, he must have begun to tire, and everyone went their separate ways. We saw some baby hippos with their moms and lots of hippos just hanging out in the shallow water staring at us. A few times when we ventured a bit too close for their liking they opened their mouths in a HUGE yawn of a warning: apparently opening their mouth and showing their teeth is a sign to back off! It was pretty effective - their tusks are scary! And if you didn't know it already, hippos kill more people in Africa every year than lions or other predators, so their warnings aren't to be taken too lightly!

Apparently this is a "back off" warning

I was mesmerized by the hippos, I think they are an adorable kind of ugly, and they were just floating around, blowing water into the air as they surfaced, and splashing around with each other. The ladies eventually convinced me to peel myself away from them, and we motored around the shore of the lake learning about the birds and taking in the scenery for a while. When we turned around to make our way back to our launch point, I asked if we could swing back by the hippos.

Time for a teeth cleaning?

I was really glad we did, because when we got back there were two hippos gently snuggling in the sunshine! One hippo had rested his giant head on the back of another hippo and vice versa! I thought it was too cute...hippos cuddling after a frisky morning :)

Overall, in under an hour we saw countless birds and about 10 hippos, all for the bargain price of about $5 a person. I had a great time, and am still amazed that Lake Victoria is about a half mile from my doorstep and contains all these crazy creatures!

The rest of my hippo pictures are here: https://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/9936

Hippos cuddling :)