My First Experience in the African Bush

My first real job after University was working for Raleigh International in Zimbabwe. I had been employed as an ecologist, for a minimum of the year, to set up a number of conservation projects in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was Raleigh International's new destination and I had eight months to set up a number of projects for the first expedition the following year.

I had never been into the African bush before, I was naive about all things Africa. 

So, I drove down to Save Valley Conservancy to stay with a lady called Karen Paolillo - she had single-handedly saved a pod of hippo during the drought which Zimbabwe was in the clutches of at the time. It was June 1992, the early rains for the year had not materialised, people and animals were dying.

Karen and her husband Jean lived in a small caravan in the middle of the bush in Save Valley Conservancy. Jean had been prospecting land for minerals and Karen had come along with him, only to notice the plight of the hippos. Their caravan stood on the edge of the escarpment overlooking the River Turgwe, which should have been a river of glorious water but had been reduced to a couple of small puddles. Karen had become increasingly aware that the hippos no longer had water to drink or to retreat to in the heat of the day and little food to eat. The situation had become serious if these hippos were going to survive.

So Karen has taken it upon herself to feed these hippo, using the little savings that she had. Each day she would go out to find where the hippos were hiding in order to feed them. More often than not they were in dense riverine bush attempting to hide from the powerful rays of the sun. Hippos skin is very sensitive to the sun, which is why they need to submerge themselves in water during the day, otherwise the skin will crack and blister. Cracked skin, and the searing heat, can lead to the death of a hippo from dehydration.

So there I was, naive Jenny, carrying a bag of hay and walking through the bush. Karen was busy looking for a a young hippo and its mother which she had not seen for a while. We were searching a dry riverbed as Karen thought that this was where they would probably be hiding out. I was given strict instructions by Karen to stay in the middle of the dry riverbed whilst she went into the undergrowth to see whether she could locate the two hippos. All of a sudden there was this large crashing sound from the undergrowth, coming in my direction, and I became frozen to the spot. In the back of my mind I was looking for nearby trees to climb but my legs were not going anywhere. I was terrified! A few seconds later Karen emerged from the undergrowth, smiling. She was pretty pleased that I had done what she had asked me to do, which was to wait exactly where I was, but little did she know that my legs could not move anyway. What an adrenaline rush!

That was the first time of many wonderful wildlife experiences, where the heart gets a little bit of the workout. But I will never forget that particular moment, it was the first of many, and it is the one that sticks in my mind.