Hippopotamus is derived from the Greek πποπόταμος which means river horse. It turns out the Afrikaans name for the hippo, "Seekoei", is sometimes more accurate. Seekoi means Sea Cow and this hippo was indeed captured surfing in the ocean at Thompsons Bay, Balito, South Africa this May.

The hippo, a 2 ton adult male, had been moving south on the KwaZulu-Natal coast for a couple of months but in Balito it was approaching far more populated areas on the outskirts of Durban.



Video posted on youtube by "Coatesman".

Lionel van Schoor, a wildlife ranger from KZN Wildlife, a conservation group in KwaZulu-Natal, warned it might have to be shot dead if it did not turn around because they could not use tranquiliser darts. He said: "This one would drown if we darted him in the water, and if we tried to dart him on the beach, he would run into the water for safety and again drown when the drug takes effect. "If the hippo moves any further south there is huge risk. If he does not retrace his own steps and move back north, there is little hope for him."

Unfortunately the tale did indeed end sadly. Nkululeko (meaning freedom), as the hippo became affectionately known a had to be put down in July. There was great concern for the safety of residents and the municipality deemed that neither passive nor darting capturing would be successful. The Animal Rights Activists requested and were granted a until July 28th to capture Nkululeko but before that date the hippo allegedly killed a local resident. Regretfully, sometime during the night of July 12/13, there was an incident during which the hippo killed a male resident of the area. The factual circumstances of this tragic incident are not clear.


A more fortunate wandering hippo was Huberta who, over three years starting in 1928, completed a 1600 km (994 mile) wander from St Lucia in KwaZulu-Natal past Balito (where Nkululeko surfed), all the way to the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Huberta, originally known as Hubert because she was thought to be male, successfully evaded many attempts at capture before eventually making her way as far south as East London. There, although having been declared en-route to be Royal Game, and thus protected by the Crown, she was shot and killed by hunters. Her body was then reverently shipped to a taxidermist in London, after which she was returned to South Africa where she can still be seen at the Amathole Museum in King William’s Town.

The African River Horse a.k.a. Hippo generally prefers fresh water but will use any nearby water source especially to stay cool during the day. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoise, etc.).


Other cases of Surfing hippos:
Gabon, West Africa: National Geographic: "In the land of Surfing Hippos"

One of our favourite wine farms to share with you on your visit to Cape Town is the beautiful 300 year old Klein Constantia just 15 minutes drive from the city. So close that we can drop in after a morning at the beach or a visit to the Jackass Penguins.

Klein Constantia was originally part of Constantia wine estate which was the VOC Governor of the Cape, Simon van der Stel ‘s wine estate founded in 1684. “Klein” means small, but at about 146 hectares it is not a small farm at all. Klein Constantia is family owned and run by Duggie Jooste who bought the farm in 1980 and lovingly restored it to it’s current magnificence.


Part of the mission of restoration was to bring back Vin de Constance, the sweet Constantia wine which became famous in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries particularly amongst European and Russian royal households. Napoleon Bonaparte eased his misery in exile by having almost 300 gallons shipped to him in St Helena and apparently on his deathbed Napoleon refused everything offered to him but a glass of Constantia wine. Famous authors Charles Dickens and Jane Austen were fans as well. Jane Austen wrote in Sense and Sensibility of its “healing powers on a disappointed heart.''

The wine-making team, headed by Ross Gower went to great lengths to recreate this masterpiece. They “studied historic records, looked to modern research, and read reports by early travellers who had tasted the wines. They were extremely fortunate to find a special clone of Muscat de Frontignan propagated from vines, which in all likelihood came from the original stock used in Constantia 300 years before.” www.kleinconstantia.com

And so by using research, traditional methods, late harvesting, and a lot of love, Vin de Constance is back a century after it’s disappearance. It is golden in colour, aromatic, with a smooth finish and lingering flavours. Come and enjoy it.


A rare bottle of 1821 Grand Constance sold for GBP 2,990 pounds (about $6,000) at a Sotheby's auction a year ago in London. Fortunately you can pick up a more recent vintage for under $50.

Last month’s post on South African National Park’s (SANPark’s) new Elephant Management Policy presented some background on elephant populations and their management as well as an outline of the new 2008 SANParks Elephant Management Policy. This was more or less a summary of SANPark’s position and it is fitting to present some alternative views.

The most controversial aspect of the new policy is probably that it re-introduces elephant culling. Culling was extensive in Kruger National Park (KNP) between 1967 and 1994. In 1994 it was challenged by Animal Rights Scientists and a moratorium was placed on culling. An agreement was made in 1996 to cull only in certain impact areas but was never implemented.

Culling is presented by SANParks as being one of a number of methods necessary to control elephant populations and makes a point of it needing to be implemented “with caution and after all other alternatives have been considered”. Of course not everyone feels that it’s necessary. Many people believe that it is really being implemented for economic reasons. SANParks clearly recognizes the economic benefits. The SANParks policy includes the following statement: “Because elephants are efficient converters of bulk plant materials into secondary products sought after by man the principle of sustainable use of these products should be permitted”. Revenue is generated from the animal parts and a stockpile of valuable ivory could lead to pressure to market the product despite the current ban on ivory trade.

One alternative to culling presented by scientists is contraception. It is included in SANParks policy but some claim it should replace culling entirely. Will Travers, CEO of the Born Free Foundation says “Leading scientists have reported that it costs around £50 to contracept each elephant. If you look at the number of reproductively viable female elephants in Kruger (roughly 3,700-4,500) that means that for between £180,000 and £225,000, a contraception programme could be implemented throughout Kruger National Park. For a country with a GDP that outstrips most other African economies more than ten-fold, (SA GDP 2005 US 239 billion) this is peanuts. I have no doubt the authorities could afford it if they really wanted to”.

For additional reading on this topic see:
South Africa lifts ban on Culling, Born Free Foundation
Summary for Policy Makers, Assessment of South African Elephant Management, 2007
A scientific perspective on the management of elephants in the Kruger National Park and elsewhere.
South African Journal of Science 102, September/October 2006
Elephants face a bleak and Cruel future in Southern Africa, Animal Rights Africa
Roar Africa Blog posts:
- Elephant Management Policy, SANParks
- Green Hunting of Elephants
- Mac’s Migration

Here is an amusing photograph.

Imagine the scene: "You are an African bush pilot. You fly in some critical medical supplies and enjoy a quick lunch at the hospital. It's a stifling 45 degrees in the shade and you're eager to get back up to the cool, high blue yonder. On the way back to your plane you discover that the only bit of shade within 10 miles has become very popular . You start calculating the distance to the plane door. And wonder ... Do I feel lucky today?"

The story above is possibly fabricated but could easily be true. It went around the internet by email a few years ago. The pictures are real. The plane pictured belongs to Blue Sky Aviation which operates out of Kenya and the lions are doing what they do in the heat of the African bush: make use of any available shade.

In April 2008 South African National Parks (SANParks) published their new Elephant Management Policy for South African National Parks. This is a brief précis of the introductory document. It includes some background on elephant management in South Africa and the new policy. More complete information is available from SANParks here.

Historical distribution and population

Historically elephants were distributed over almost the entire area covered by the present day South Africa. Exceptions were the Drakensberg Mountains and the arid central Karoo. It is difficult to estimate how populous they once were but by 1890 the population had been decimated by ivory hunting, human settlement and agricultural expansion. About 120 elephants remained in pockets around Knysna, Addo, the Olifants Gorge area and Sihangwe (Tembe). Fortunately people took conservation action at around this time and so began the era of recovery. There are now about 21,000 elephants in South Africa and 270,000 across the Southern African region.

Approach to Conservation

Prior to 1930 conservation management was focused on the preservation of parks as natural areas and on restocking their game populations. The National Protected Areas Act of 1926 introduced new stakeholders- tourists. With them came the potential for future revenue and a shift from the laissez faire management approach (protection from hunting) to ‘management by intervention’. Efforts were made to preserve the landscape and the game populations and the land were managed accordingly with the sinking of boreholes, creation of dams and so on. By the 1960s management by intervention had intensified to ‘command and control’ – a term given to the prevailing worldwide approach to natural resource management at the time. This highly interventionist management style was aimed at maintaining the ‘balance of nature’ and the pristine state of the environment. What was not considered was that the “ideal” landscape being maintained (as it was remembered from around 1900) was simply a reflection of recent conditions and not the natural environmental state without human influence.

Elephants have the most dramatic effect on vegetation and in the 1960’s, given the conservation approach at the time, the carrying capacity of Kruger National Park (KNP) was generally agreed to be about 7,000 elephants. Between 1968 and 1995 this policy resulted in about 17,000 elephants being removed from KNP, 2,500 of which were live transfers to other conservation areas. Over time the aggressive management in KNP had surprising and unwelcome consequences and a longer term view of has come to bear. Since the ban on culling in 1995 the population has grown to over 20,000.


Ecologists now believe that it is the existence of flux, variation and diversity that gives ecosystems their resilience in the face of extreme events. It is now expected that the natural environment should be more of a patchwork of vegetation in various states of impact and regeneration. This forms the basis of ‘hierarchical patch dynamics’– the current theoretical framework of choice for landscape ecologists.

Conservation management has become a lot more complex. Firstly we have the recognition of the flux of nature. Secondly, there are many more stakeholders now being considered. Tourism, the public, neighbouring communities, animal welfare groups and scientists to name a few. And thirdly since the conservation areas have unnatural boundaries preventing migration our protected areas are not large enough or diverse enough to allow elephant impacts to continue unchecked or unmanaged. Population management is necessary to prevent possible loss of biodiversity.

SANParks has chosen an adaptive management approach to managing ecosystems within South Africa’s national parks. Elephant management is but one component of a broader ecosystem management process that focuses on maintaining ecological processes, flux and diversity. A locally derived form of Adaptive Management termed Strategic Adaptive Management (SAM) has been developed through an interactive process with national and provincial conservation agencies.

In February 2008, following an extensive consultation process, The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk, announced the new norms and standards for elephant management in South Africa. These new norms and standards allow for the following management options should management be considered necessary to achieve the objectives of a particular park:

To manage the size, composition or rate of growth of a wild elephant population:

• Contraception
• Range manipulation (management of water or food supply, controlled use of fire,
• fencing, creation of corridors of movement between different areas; or range expansion)
• Translocation
• Culling

To manage the distribution of a wild elephant population within the boundaries of the area:

• Contraception
• Range manipulation (management of water or food supply, controlled use of fire,
• fencing, creation of corridors of movement between different areas; or range expansion)
• Translocation

According to the 2008 norms and standards:

• Management interventions must take into account the social structure of elephant populations, and take measures to avoid stress and disturbance to elephants.
• Where lethal measures are necessary these should be undertaken with caution and after all other alternatives have been considered.
• Because elephants are efficient converters of bulk plant materials into secondary products sought after by man the principle of sustainable use of these products should be permitted.

This picture courtesy of Lion Sands

This is a brief summary with some direct extracts from “An Introduction to A New Elephant Management Policy for South African National Parks”, April 2008. For further information please visit SANParks here.