Did you know that hippos do not sweat?
Hippopotamus (hippos) is a Greek word which means the river horse.
If you were asked about Uganda Wildlife Safari, a hippo is one of the first animals that shouldn’t miss on your list.
A hippo is also known as a second largest and a third heaviest animal in the world.
Hippos concentrate in Queen Elizabeth National Park, lake Mburo National Park, Murchison falls National Park and Semiliki National Park.
It is a semi-aquatic animal that means it leaves both on land and in water. Hippos spend most of the day in water to reduce cracking of the skin which doesn’t look pleasant to the tourists. A hippo is known to have the thickest skin. This is because it doesn’t have any sweat glands.
Despite the fact that they spend most of the time in water, hippos don’t swim but just float on water, this compliment on the experience of the tourists.
Hippos normally live in groups called pods.
Hippos always mate from water, they don’t mate from land. A female hippo reaches sexual maturity at 5-6 years and its gestation period is 8 months. A male hippo reaches sexual maturity at the age of 7-8 years. When a mother gets pregnant, she goes away, she doesn’t give birth of the school, she comes back after sometime, if the baby is a female it is welcomed easily but if it is a male it rejected by fellow male and sometimes it is killed due to fear of competition in the future.
They are herbivorous (feed on grass), a hippo can eat like 75kg of grass per day and they can travel for over 10kms in the night in the search for grass.
Herbivores are often thought to be harmless but hippos are considered to be one of the dangerous species in the world. It is always good to keep a distance if one is on foot near hippos. They can bring you to death. Like other wildlife safaris in Uganda such as Gorilla trekking safaris in Uganda, hippos are threatened by poachers and hunters. Just like elephants, hippos also have tusks which are sold as ivory. They are hunted and killed for hides and tusks.
After activities like Gorilla tracking safari to Uganda/ Gorilla trekking in Uganda Bwindi impenetrable forest and Rwanda gorilla safaris, hippos are a must see on any Uganda safari tours trip worth about telling.