Reporting Date: 21st October 2011
 

Hippo defends wildebeest on river crossing.

The world of nature is full of unusual events. It never cease to amaze, today ranger Deus and his guests were waiting for a river crossing of the wildebeests coming back into the Serengeti from the Masai mara. The time was about three in the afternoon when this unusual event took place. For nearly twenty minutes these animals crossed without any bad incident taking place. Unseen by the wildebeests was a huge Nile crocodile that lay in wait near the crossing point for the right time to attack. When a great majority had crossed, the lethal killer decided that time was ripe to move into action. He dashed forwards into the crossing line and grabbed an adult wildebeest by the neck trying to drown it.  A few meters away from the scene of attack was a hippo pool from which emerged a male hippo that went in for rescue. He tried several times to lift up the wildebeest from the back with his muzzle to prevent it from being drowned by the crocodile, but each time the reptile pulled the prey a few meters away holding tight. It was now a matter of pushing and pulling. Meanwhile the wildebeests had stopped crossing and this was the only event that remained in the waters.  Finally the crocodile won by pinning the wildebeests down in the deeper parts of the water and they both submerged. The hippo then moved back slowly to join the others in the pool, he looked so miserable for losing a fellow grazer. 

NB: * = Same animals seen by different rangers