I Want to See a Hippopotomus

Woke up to a heavy rain this morning but we were not deterred from our plan of going to Lake Saint Lucia and taking a boat excursion to see Hippopotamus.  It was a 90 minute drive from our lodge to Lake Saint Lucia and we gave ourselves plenty of time due to the heavy rain.  We would not actually get to see the lake as we will be cruising up part of the 22km (14 mile) estuary that links Lake Saint Lucia to the Indian Ocean.  The estuary and the lake have a high salt content which makes it difficult for the over 800 hippos as they can not drink salt water.  They survive by heading into one of several creeks and rivers that also flow into the estuary.  The good news for the Hippos is that the estuary is only 90cm (35 inches) deep which allows them to easily walk on the bottom and still be able to breath the air.  We arrived an hour before our boat cruise so we went to check out the Indian Ocean.  It was quite spectacular even in the overcast and stormy weather.  After a short stroll we headed to the pier to board our boat for the two hour excursion.  The estuary and lake are home to over 800 Hippos and 2,000 Nile Crocodiles, however we only had two sightings of the elusive Crocs but multiple sightings of the very impressive, but foul smelling Hippopotamuses.  The Hippos also did not seem to mind that there personal space was being invaded by a group of gawking, camera clicking humans as the boat maneuvered itself within a few feet of several Hippo pods.  The rain continued unabated during our cruise and well past our return back to the lodge.  We are hoping for better weather tomorrow as we will head out for our last couple of Safari drives before we have to leave this wondrous place.    

Rita balancing herself against the heavy wind and rain on a sandy beach in Saint Lucia



A pod of hippos that would include one adult male, several adult females and their offspring

One of the hippo youngsters having a yawn



The dominant male hippo surrounded by his haram and offspring. When you get this close to a pod the smell is overpowering and not in a good way

 

The dominant male telling the kids that size does matter



A large Kingfisher sitting on a Mangrove tree branch at the edge of the estuary looking for a fish dinner