As we left the gates of Southern Camp, a herd of elephants blocked our way. They were enjoying the ‘fruit of their labour’ – browsing on trees they had pushed over. They had us captivated for 20 minutes, as we watched how they nimbly used their trunks to strip leaves from thicker branches and place them gently in their mouths. Elephants need to eat an enormous amount every day to maintain their bulky bodies, so they are constantly either looking for food or eating it.

Hippo display. Photo by Almero Klingenberg

But today it was lions we were really after. A pride had been moving around the lodge the previous night. We’d heard them and seen their tracks near the dam. Before long, we found the exact spot the lions had slept the previous night, and I stopped the game drive vehicle to explain this to the guests. I didn’t have time to finish my story, though. A chaotic ruckus was coming from the dam, so we immediately drove over to see what the racket was about. Two male hippos were fighting – and this was no pretending. They were really fighting hard and giving it their all. Luckily, we were the first vehicle to arrive, so we had the prime position for photography.

I explained to the guests that the two huge males were jostling over territory and the right to reside in the dam. One male was much larger than the other, so the match wasn’t exactly fair. Still, a female hippo watched on like a captivated spectator at a sports game – and the vicious battle continued. For over an hour, we watched in silent awe at the sheer power of the duelling hippos.

We could clearly hear the sound of their enormous teeth crashing together, and the dam surface was strewn with bubbles as the two beasts thrashed and splashed in their fight for superiority. At one stage, the two tenacious males even got out of the water and chased each other on the bank. They were enraged, and neither was willing to give up the battle for the dam. Eventually, we left so that other vehicles could enjoy the impressive sighting – and we presumed the larger of the two hippos won the dam as his territory in the end.

By Bethual Sithole – Southern Camp
Edited by Keri Harvey