Email
NAIVASHA, KenyaIn May, George Mwaura went fishing with his close friend Babu along the swampy shores of Lake Naivasha, in central Kenya. “Babu was a quiet guy, a nice guy,” Mwaura recalled. “He’s the one who taught me patience. And he was quite good at fishing.”
They couldn’t afford a boat, so they’d wade into the water up to their chests to see what fish tilapia, carp, catfish had swum into their nets overnight. “We had a lucky catch that day,” Mwaura said. “But before we got the full catch, the hippo came again.”
They’d seen it that morning, its ears and eyes poking above the surface. “We beat the water with a stick to make noise, so the hippo went away,” he said.
1 Feb 2021, 14:44 GMT
Hippos soak in Lake Naivasha in part of a nature conservancy called Sanctuary Farm that was once dry land. Heavy rains have caused the lake to rise. Now fishermen and hippos share the swampy shorelines, leading to an increase in hippo attacks, which are often deadly. Hippos are mostly docile but can become aggressive when they feel threatened. They kill about 500 people a year in Africa, biting them with teeth that can be a foot and a half long.
In May, George Mwaura went fishing with his close friend Babu along the swampy shores of Lake Naivasha, in central Kenya. “Babu was a quiet guy, a nice guy,” Mwaura recalled. “He’s the one who taught me patience. And he was quite good at fishing.”