Dear readers,
I hope that you enjoyed my ‘Hippo Love Story’.
Feel free to add your comments on the book and share with all of us about your feelings.
Love
Karen
Latest News from April 2024
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Hi Karen purchased your book on Friday and finished it early hours on Sunday! Wow! Well written with all the ingredients of adventure,suspense,drama, biography and romance! Well done and your hippos are immortalised!
Hi Grant that is fantastic to know that you read it over such a short period of time and that it kept your attention all the way. Please promote it to all you know as every copy helps the Turgwe Hippo Trust. Love Karen and the hippos
This book reads like an adventure novel and yet is all based on real life experiences deep in the African bush. Tellingly, it is not the Hippos or any other wild animals that cause the problems but people. The revelations about Hippo behaviour, gained during many years of observation, are astonishing. No wonder that Karen fell in love with these creatures. This book is also a testimony to the determination of Karen and Jean-Roger to maintain their commitment not only to the hippos and their animal neighbours but also to each other as a couple. Congratulations on your amazing achievements – there are now two more heroes on my list. Your bravery and sacrifices over the last two decades and now your book will definitely make a valuable contribution to wildlife conservation.
Oskar Rothen
Hi Oskar it means so much to me to read these comments as it has been a busy couple of days, with children x about 9 (lost count) then two lovely Australians and then the game scouts managed with the help of ZRP police support unit & Humani game scouts to catch three poachers who had killed a warthog, plus evidence of an eland. Tomorrow court for another poacher so rather hectic at the moment. So these amazing words about my book really help to keep me focused and very humbled by how people are enjoying A Hippo Love Story love Karen and the hippos
Karen has written a wonderful book about a moving life in Zimbabwe. It’s also very readable for people like me [I’m Dutch] who do not speak Englisch very well. It’s a story full of emotional and rational power. Heartbreaking and glorious. With great love, compassion and respect. A beautiful monument to a hippo family and their environment. Karen shows us true humanity. Care for the wild is care for the world. It’s the only way to survive together. Thank you.
Dear Lidy thank you for your beautiful words with regards to my book. I am so pleased that it is written in such a way that it is easier for you to follow although your English is far better than my Dutch which sadly is non-existent. Love from me and the Hippos xxx
It often feels like the ever growing tide of humanity is constantly eroding what is left of the natural world, but there are individuals & small bands of people around the world holding back the tide, making a difference. Karen & Jean-Roger Paolillo are two such people. Through their tireless endeavour they have not only managed to save the last group of hippos living on the Turgwe river from the worst that nature & man can throw at them, but also helped to protect the whole ecosystem around them in the process.
Karen’s book A Hippo Love Story charts their story. It contains a great insight into the lives of hippos, giving a quite different perspective of them, with eye witness accounts of many remarkable events. Karen’s love of animals & nature shines through, with stories of many other animals that share her world. The book also covers the turbulent period of recent history in Zimbabwe as it was played out in a small corner of the country. Living lives very different from the average person the book is a real page turner, difficult to put down, real life far more gripping than the average novel. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in nature & wildlife conservation.
Mark you have missed your vocation as your review shows such insight into what it is all about here. I knew you were brilliant with plants but now with words too. Thank you Mark you have been and still are a fantastic suporter of these hippos. Love Karen and the hippos
Hi Karen, I have yet to get a copy of the book. Reading all the readers comments is just going to make me enjoy it all the more. Your dedication, staying power and love of animals is a guiding light to all those who try to help in these difficult times. I salute You and Jean-Roger!
Cavan what can I say apart from thank you for your kindness and support. I hope one day we will meet.
Love Karen and all the hippos
I have been looking forward to the publication of Karen’s book ever since my first trip to Hippo Haven. It does not disappoint. A straight-forward brutally honest account of her life in Africa, I could not put it down. I had heard many of the stories in the book during my now-two visits and still was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens. That’s good writing.
I have read more books than I can recall over the years of people’s personal experiences protecting animals in Africa and of the often harsh existence of their daily lives. A Hippo Love Story ranks with the best.
Perhaps most moving is the relationship of Bob hippo and Karen. I thought I knew how much Bob meant to her but I had no idea until I read her accounts of the incredible connection between them. I will never understand people who believe that animals do not think and feel. Any book that proves how smart and caring animals are – because they are – is one I whole heartedly endorse. Karen Paolillo’s book does that and more as it is also a story of the humans who are doing this incredibly brave and important work. I salute all of them – Karen, Jean-Roger, Silas, the scouts and of course the hippos, baboons, monkeys and many other animals who share their home. Hippo Haven is perhaps the one place I have found on this planet where I feel a part of the natural world – despite the dangers and evils surrounding them, the Paolillos will be there protecting what so needs and has a right to be protected. These are the true heroes of this earth. And I’m glad the public now has a chance to meet them thanks to the publication of A Hippo Love Story.
Teresa I cry with tears of gratitude for your understanding. Love Karen and all of the hippos and every animal that you have met here and are hopefully still to meet.
Every endangered species needs a champion and now the hippos have found their own in Karen Paolillo. While witnessing the birth of the Turgwe Hippo Trust through this dramatic and dangerous tale of modern Zimbabwe history, the reader will thrill in the story of Karen’s very personal relationships with the region’s wildlife and their common struggle to survive. Just as Born Free showed us the legend of Elsa and the plight of lions over half a century ago, A Hippo Love Story reminds us that the fight to protect wild animals in a world of shrinking resources is a never-ending battle. Karen’s dedication, even as her life is on the line many times in this account, shows that while we cannot save all of nature we should all help save a part of it. Karen, you are a real inspiration.
Loretta it is people like yourself that I may know only virtually but who give me the courage to do what I do here, and for both of us to stay focused. To mention my hero and his wife’s story of Elsa and have my book brought in on the same level is such a huge compliment to me. I am particularly vulnerable at this moment as my darling Robin bull has just been killed by another hippo. It is a natural death so I can live with it but it still hurts. So your comments and all that have so far commented on my book actually give me the boost I need at this very moment. Thank you all Love Karen and the hippos
This is a story of dedication, endurance, love of wildlife and the bush, love for your partner against all odds, and just plain stubbornness, without which this would have been a very short story indeed! I am one of Karen’s fans having adopted one of her hippos – Kuchek – and followed her story via Facebook and the Turgwe Hippo Trust for the past few years. Karen’s dedication to a family of wild hippos as well as assorted other wildlife near their home, is beyond bounds and it was a treat to read how she came to be in Zimbabwe. What was more difficult to read were the challenges – of building a house in the bush without formal builder’s knowledge, getting the hippos to accept her presence, tackling the drought, and finally the outright brutality of so called ‘war vets’ who, with the governments approval, have taken it upon themselves to threaten all whites in the Conservancy, and plunder land that was being managed by white Zimbabweans, simply out of spite and greed. I would have been even less able to control my temper than Karen, who knew all the animals near their home. The frustrations experienced to this day, by both Karen and her husband Jean-Roger, would try any man, but they persevere, because they know that without them the area around Humani where they live would be totally razed. I encourage everyone who has a love of the bush and especially of Africa, to read this amazing tale and support their work! And now I will go and send some money to Karen so she can continue her work with the hippos…
It is people like Inge who I have never met but you adopts Kuchek and cares enough to write comments on my book that keep me going here. To all of you who have emailed, written by post or commented now on my book I salute you all. Love Karen and the hippos xx
Indomitable Karen Paolillo takes the reader on an intimate tour of her world, with Bob the Hippo as her teacher as she vows to save the Turgwe Hippos, beginning with the drought of 1992. With single-minded determination belying her diminutive size and with Jean Rogers talents to support her efforts, the Turgwe Hippos have flourished in an atmosphere of uncertain food sources, poaching, and political unrest. Through Karens compelling narrative, we share the gentler moments with the River Horse contrasted with the drama of fighting for their lives against invaders.
HI Mark thank you so much for your kind words and I hope you found my book inspirational.
Love Karen and the hippos
Karen Paolillo’s – A Hippo Love Story is beautifully written, straight from the heart!
The harsh reality of survival, a country in turmoil crying out for help.
The true Africa becomes a part of your heart and soul. Its hardship and it’s beauty will not let you go!!
Theresa has her own story to tell as she too has been living a parallel life to me but with elephants. Thank you Theresa it means a lot to me that you like my book. Love to you Karen and the hippos