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Karen's Blog
Anniversary of 20 years of living with the Turgwe Hippos. 1990-2010
On October 7th we celebrated twenty years of living at Hippo Haven with these Turgwe Hippos. The 7th is my birthday, so we felt that arriving in the Lowveld of Zimbabwe on that day was an auspicious beginning. On the 7th of October, 2010 Antoinette, Jean-Roger’s...
Some Humour from Dr Jean-Roger Paolillo August 2001
Had I not looked over my shoulder at that very second, the crowned eagle would have broken my neck. This feeling that someone is looking at you... Well, it does exist! Wings wide open, talons extended, my head was the target. I know, because it was the only part of my...
Volunteer : Jenny Cookson-Teall, UK, August 2010
My love for hippos began in 1991 when I saw the Silentnight hippo and duck advert on TV and the soft toys they produced. For those of you who haven’t seen it, they show the hippo lying on the bed in sexy blue stripped PJ’s, next to a very small yellow duck. The bed...
The hippo whisperer
The lady who whisper to hippos. Amazing story of Karen Paolillo talking to wild hippos.
Volunteer, Hazel Mitchison, Yorkshire U.K, visits Sept/October 2009
I have always been an animal lover, and as my sister has been a hippo parent for many years I was pleased to be able to meet Karen in 2006, at one of her talks in the UK. She really inspired me when she talked about the hippos, the problems with poaching and all the...
Volunteer : Kirsty Mitchison of UK – Aug 2009
I’ve been obsessed with hippos since I was a child. For my 21st birthday I asked to have an adopted hippo. My mum researched this on the internet and found various zoo options, which just put your name on a plaque and give you free entry to the zoo, but then came...
Volunteer : Cary Martin of UK, November 2007.
I'd listened to Karen’s lectures, read her newsletters, looked at the photographs and watched the DVD, but none of this had really prepared me for the feelings of sheer wonder that I felt when I first set eyes on a group of hippos lying nonchalantly in the Mokore...
In Memory of Bob Hippo 1950’s-2003
Yesterday, the 4th of February, the day commenced like any other. But by evening I knew I had lost the most important hippo of all of the Turgwe Hippos. Bob the bull had died. Bob was the largest hippo bull in the entire Turgwe River. He was also probably the oldest....
Volunteers Bob van den Berg and Floor Singelaar of the Netherlands, July 2002
"Hi my lovelies, hello my beauties, Hi my lovelies, hello my beauties" is what Karen Paollillo repeats over and over again as we approach 18 representatives of Africa's most dangerous animal species. From behind the Baobab tree we are slowly moving towards what is...
Newsletter August 2001
The photos shown here are of the hippos in their pool at the Chichindwi weir, where we initially used the sand pump back in May. The photos were taken in early July, one month after we had removed 2500 cubic meters of sand. As you can see there is a large wall of...
Volunteer, Author, Working for the Presidential Herd of Elephants Hwange Sharon Pincott July 1999
Sharon Pincott 10.7.99 to 24.7.99 1st volunteer: What a memorable two weeks! A truly wonderful time. Thank you to you and Jean for sharing your little piece of paradise with me. I'm going to hold onto my dream of one day living here, you continue to fight...
Travel writer Lesley Cripps writes about Karen Paolillo 1997
What have a young English schoolgirl and a lady living in the middle of the African bush got in common? The love of hippos- those great big lumbering animals that spend most of their lives under water. Karen Paolillo, the lady living in the bush, is carrying out...