This is the moment a hippo found a novel way to keep cool during an African drought – by taking a dip in a swimming pool.
The large hippopotamus made a splash when he was spotted swimming laps in the pool at Ingwelala, a private nature reserve in South Africa, last week.
Staff at the reserve were shocked when they arrived at work one morning to find the hippo happily enjoying a dip in the pool.
It’s thought the hippo had taken a dip in the pool in a bid to cool down after rivers reached low levels due to a recent drought in the area
This is the second time the hippo has taken a swim in the pool as he recently jumped in while residents were swimming one evening
The giant animal was guided to the pool’s steps by staff before it climbed out and slowly plodded back into the bush.
It’s thought the hippo had taken a dip in the pool in a bid to cool down after rivers reached low levels due to a recent drought in the area.
Remarkably it’s claimed that this is the second time the hippo has taken a swim in the pool as he recently jumped in while residents were swimming one evening.
However, this time Judy and her partner Robere were able to capture some photographs of the hippo during his second visit to the pool.
Judy, 60, who has worked at Ingwelala for the last 18 months said she has never in her life seen a hippo in a swimming pool.
The large hippopotamus made a splash when he was spotted swimming laps in the pool at Ingwelala, a private nature reserve in South Africa
Describing the rare moment, Judy said: ‘Both my colleague and I came in early that [day] when I noticed the hippo.
‘I turned to my colleague and I said “you’ll never guess what, there’s a hippo in the swimming pool”.
‘The hippo was huge, you just don’t realise how big they are until you see them up close.
‘We immediately wondered how we would get him out, he was so big and hippos can be very dangerous.
‘Hippos kill more people in Africa than any other animal, they’re extremely dangerous.
‘But I just thought “oh my gosh”, I felt sorry for him.
Staff at the reserve were shocked when they arrived at work one morning to find the hippo enjoying a dip
‘We’ve recently been through a bad drought and we think this hippo came from the river by the entrance to the reserve which had become very shallow.
‘We think this is the second time he’s visited the pool.
‘Two people were swimming in the pool at night recently when they heard a slight plop and looked up to see the hippo swimming next to them.
‘There were no photos captured that time, I think the people just got out of the pool as quickly as they could, it must have been a shock.
‘My partner Robere and other staff gently used the pool brushes to guide the hippo to the steps and it just walked up the steps and wondered off into the bush.
‘In all my years I’ve never seen a hippo in a swimming pool, I was so shocked when I saw it.’
The giant animal was later guided to the pool’s steps by staff before it climbed out and slowly plodded back into the bush