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A pair of hippos investigate visitors to their neighborhood
"We're in a small canoe in the lagoon in Loango National Park. Hippos are very, very curious, but if they get too close to you, they get scared and can be very dangerous—much more so than an elephant or a rhino. An elephant will make a mock charge before he actually makes contact. A hippo is very curious and wants to look at you, but if he gets scared or feels threatened, there's no mock charge, he'll just go after you. On land, there are many more accidents with hippos than elephants; but hippos won't attack a canoe.
"Hippos are playful and like to swim around in the water, especially to keep cool. Then they notice something new in their neighborhood, and they have to check it out."
—Photographer Nicolas Reynard
Photography Notes
- Camera: Nikon F100
- Film: Provia 400
- Lens: 600mm
- Shutter speed: 1/500th
- Aperture: f/11
- Time of day: 10 a.m.
"I had the famous Nick Nichols picture of the hippo bodysurfing in my head. I wanted to do my own picture of hippos. We'd been in the lagoon for a few hours, and the current kept us moving. Because the motor on the boat would scare them, we'd have to find a way to go up the lagoon, turn off the motor, and drift down, hoping the hippos would come close enough to get some kind of interesting picture.
"It was like hide-and-seek. They'd pop up very far away, so we'd redirect the boat in that direction. Once we got to the new spot, they'd pop up where we had been before. At one point we said, OK, they're playing with us, let's just forget about it.
"Then we tried something new. I took the longest lens I had, a 600mm f/4, and I said, 'Let's guess where they will come out.' I started shooting in all directions. If I saw any movement, I'd just shoot. I used perhaps four or five rolls of film.
"At one point those two guys came out at the same time, and I was ready. It was a great game."
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