Did you know that hippos cause the most deaths in Africa?

I didn’t until I hopped on a precarious little boat to go out looking for them…

The main star of my favourite childhood board game always seemed rather innocent. Manically gulping down those colourful little plastic white balls.

It turns out those white little plastic balls are just stupid tourists in Africa. And I did not plan on becoming a colourful little plastic ball…

We were fitted with life-vests and held on tight to our Cameras.

‘Do not move to much or the boats will be unbalanced and you will end up swimming’.

No moving. Got it.

But as we started our hippo hunt we soon realised that there was a bigger fear than capsizing. Because the engine of our little boat was making ‘I’m dying’ noises. Which is not what you want to hear. Especially when you are 10 metres away from land. Where a water buffalo is waiting for breakfast.

But just like every animal experience in Africa, you must take some risks to get the chance of the best wildlife experiences. And the dying little motor boat was well worth the risk.

We spotted birds, zebras, giraffes on the land around the lake, and beside us, of course, the hungry hungry, colourful-ball-eating hippos watched us.

Unfortunately hippos spend their days in the water, only revealing their true size and power during the night. Fortunately that means they were not the hungry-hungry, white-ball-eating board game characters when we were out admiring them.

We watched them yawn and fight, and held our own breathes as the disappeared under the water, hoping they would not reappear underneath our dying little motorboat.

But they were peaceful, we obviously didn’t look appetising enough compared to other colourful-balls they would be snacking on.

The scenery itself was completely eerie, and under the grey morning sky the entire experience had a mysterious atmosphere. But a boat ride out on this lake is a trip not to be missed…

Unless you are a particularly stupid (or appetising) looking white ball.