Elephants can be grumpy at the best of times, and these baby hippos soon learn that this elephant doesn’t care about visitors in his pasture.
This footage was made by Evan Malsbury in the Umfolozi River in South Africa.
Evan told Latestsightings.com: “We were part of an organized tour group that arranged a river cruise. There were several other boats on the river, nothing too unusual for this sight, just groups of hippos grazing along the river.
According to the boat driver and the tour director, seeing elephants along the river as part of this cruise was extremely unusual, so everyone on board was jockeying for a better view. This was then that we saw an elephant close to the water’s edge. The elephant was alone for a while before the trio of hippos appeared and this was when the drama was taken up a notch. The hungry the hippos were no match for the elephant but thankfully no one but the tree was hurt.
Apparently, this was rare even for the tour director/cruise driver. It was the most unusual thing seen during our 14 day trip to South Africa. The tour director proposed that the hippos were young and that they were learning about how to interact with elephants. The elephants were just trying to cross the river. It all seemed like a territorial standoff to me though.”
Apparently, this was rare even for the tour director/cruise driver. It was the most unusual thing seen during our 14 day trip to South Africa. The tour director proposed that the hippos were young and that they were learning about how to interact with elephants. The elephants were just trying to cross the river. It all seemed like a territorial standoff to me though.”