It happened in Africa. You may have noticed I was gone for the first two weeks of April. I took an amazing vacation with stops in South Africa, Zambia and Botswana. The highlight of the trip was the safari camp in Botswana. A camp guide took me and a few other people on a boat ride on the Chobe River to see wildlife and wow, did we see wildlife. There were crocodiles, elephants, a leopard and lots of hippos. The trip got very interesting when we stopped to observe a mama hippo and her baby, off by themselves.

The safari guide, Patrick stopped the boat, turned the motor off and quietly explained the details of hippo life. He said when hippo's have babies the mother leaves the group with her newborn so she can protect him. As he talked about the animals the boat drifted closer to the mother and baby. All of a sudden the big hippo mama looked over at our little boat and came at us. We all started yelling for Patrick to get the boat started and huddled together on the side away from the angry mama.

At that moment drowning in the river was the least of my worries. The whole time I was thinking about the Discovery Channel special I'd just seen before the trip about when wild animals attack. Apparently when hippos get angry they hold a grudge. Lucky for us, just as the hippo hit the boat the engine roared to life. We screamed and wobbled, but didn't tip over. Patrick said in 11 years working as a safari guide he'd never been charged by a hippo. It freaked him out too. Once we'd gotten a safe distance away, the whole experience felt more exciting them frightening.

The trip inspired a few other fun stories, but that's the most exciting one. Here are some of my pictures of animals, as well as trips to Victoria Falls and Cape Town. Enjoy!