Hippo Heaven

It seems as though half the hippos in Uganda arranged themselves along the Nile for our exclusive benefit.  On an afternoon boat ride, we watched hundreds of hippos, mostly lounging in the water, clumped together, or sometimes swimming placidly in the middle of the river.

 There were males, females and small ones.  

Although most were in the water, as is their habit during the day, a few were on land grazing.  

They are usually night eaters and only come on land when the sun sets, but sometimes, when they haven't had enough, they continue to eat during the day.  We were fortunate to see them.  Perhaps the rain the previous night had slowed them down.  They are big animals, and take their grazing seriously.

We also saw a few crocodiles and more birds.

 There is a mud wall formation along the river where kingfishers and red throated beefeaters build their nests in holes they drill into the earth.

And along the riverbank we saw baboons, warthogs, buffalo, Oribis, water bucks, and many water birds.