18 May
Quite an exciting day today. Ok so we didn’t actually catch a hippo, but we’re getting closer!
Kenewa heard hippo noises whilst out checking his traps this morning. The locals think it’s a pregnant female looking for somewhere to give birth, but Michele thinks it’s more likely to be a female that’s come into heat and is looking for a mate.
This could have been our chance to see a pygmy hippo so we jumped in the boat and headed up river to check things out. We could hear noises coming from a dense piece of undergrowth close to the water. We sat quietly in the boat, hoping to catch sight of the hippo that was a mere 100m away. We hoped that if we didn’t see her, she might end up in one of the traps that were close by, but sadly we were disappointed on both counts. The noises got quieter and quieter and then silence.
We were so close! But back to camp we headed, with empty hands and empty traps.
20 May
We’ve got ourselves one clever hippo here. She’s still in the same area, but has managed to avoid the traps so far.
We got our hopes up again this morning when Kenewa found the cover material missing from one of this traps. Could this be it? Had we finally caught a pygmy hippo? Sadly not. Heavy rainfall the night before had soaked the cover material and caused it to slip into the trap.
Getting over our disappointment quickly we left the camp and headed for the trap as it needed to be repaired quickly. Whilst we were working on the trap, Kenewa and Bobor went to suss out an old mining pit that’s used by pygmy hippos as a resting place. Suddenly there was a huge kafuffle and we heard something running through the undergrowth and then splashing into the river. It turns out a hippo had been resting in the mining pit, had been surprised by Kenewa and Bobor and made quick its escape. If only it had run our way!
We fixed the trap up and carefully blocked off some of the hippo trails leading away from the pit towards the water in an attempt to guide the hippos in the trap’s direction.
The hippo encounters are getting closer so surely it can’t be long before a hippo ends up in one of our traps. We have two weeks left. The clock is ticking!