May 7th, 2014, A Hippo Love Story, book written by Karen Paolillo is published. You can order it from this web and get a personal dedication. Read this awesome story.
The Turgwe Hippo Trust is not just about the hippos. The Trust has many other wild animals living around us such as elephants, lions, hyenas and many antelopes and smaller mammals. Squiggle was found by myself and Jean-Roger lying under a tree with her umbilical chord still attached, she was about one week to ten days of age. One of her eyes was still closed. We brought her home as she had not a chance of survival but I did leave a trail camera there to...
Karen is the Founder of the Turgwe Hippo Trust and every day she lives her life for the animals and with the animals.
Kiboko grooming a crocodile. I have seen this behaviour on a regular basis and believe the hippos groom the crocodiles for a couple of reasons. The area they choose to groom is normally the tail or along the ridge on the top of the croc’s body. In those areas quite a lot of hippo dung can accumulate when the croc is swimming in the river or even when on land and the hippos defecate. They often cover the crocs in dung. So a hippo will smell the...
Cheeky and her two month old calf. Hippo mothers, like any mum, are very protective of their babies. When a calf is about five to six weeks of age the first hippo allowed contact with the new baby is the bull. Often the bull is the father, but not always. The next hippos that are allowed to approach the baby are other small hippos up to about three and a half years of age. If the calf is a male the mother will not normally allow any other female contact...
This photo shows Libra a female gaping at baby Kuchek when he was only about two and a half months old. This is entirely playful and a common thing that happens with hippos. Libra was allowed close contact as at that stage she was still a young hippo and so no threat to Kuchek at all. Kuchek is now a bull at Hippo Haven sharing the pool alongside Robin, but he has just fathered his first calf, the baby of Relief. Kuchek turned 13 years of age this month....
This croc here was just sleeping quietly on land when some of the Turgwe hippo juveniles returned to their river pool. For some reason Zen sat on the croc and I managed to catch this once in a lifetime shot of a young male hippo sitting on a crocodile. I am happy to report that the croc was quite fine after this incident.
Turgwe Hippo Trust : Haven for Hippos
We save the hippos of the Turgwe River in Zimbabwe
Hi, my name is Karen Paolillo, Founder of the Turgwe Hippo Trust here in Zimbabwe.
As a little girl growing up in the UK, I told my Mum that one day I would live and work with wild animals in Africa. At that time I was horse mad and anything pony or horse caught my attention and fueled my passion.
Learn MoreThe Turgwe Hippo Trust is about saving the lives of families of hippos whose very existence would have ended way back in 1992, and helping those hippos to breed, have calves and live the lives they were born to lead as wild African animals.
How do human beings help such magnificent, wild and supposedly dangerous animals?
You can help the Trust to save the Hippos, what are the different ways ?
