24 NAT GEO KIDS^ • AUGUST 2019
WILDEBEEST
CALF1
2
BY KAREN DE SEVE
It’s rush hour in Africa. Every October, thousands of wildebeest and zebras gather along the banks
of the Mara River. They wait to cross the deep, rushing waters as part of their seasonal journey
from the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya to the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. The
river flows so fast that full-grown animals struggle to swim to the other side. “When the river is
full, lots of animals drown trying to cross,” says Tom Yule, who ran the nearby Lemala Mara safari
camp. Watching from the river’s edge, Yule sees a wildebeest calf and later a zebra foal jump into
the water. But he doesn’t expect what happens next.The little wildebeest tries to paddle across the river but is swept away by
the strong current. The calf tries to keep its head above water while floating
downstream. Suddenly something rises out of the water: a large, dark head
followed by the hulking body of a hippopotamus. “The hippo was lying in the
water near where the animals jump in, and it immediately goes after the calf,”
Yule says. Hippos can be very aggressive and even deadly when defending
territory, so he wonders whether the hippo will attack the baby wildebeest.The strong hippo defies the current and uses its body to stop
the wildebeest calf ’s scary ride downstream. Like a tugboat
guiding a ship filled with precious cargo, the hippo shepherds
the youngster to the other side of the river. Yule and other
bystanders watch in disbelief. “I have never witnessed anything
like this,” he says. The wildebeest reaches the opposite bank
and runs back upstream to rejoin its herd.»
A HIPPOPOTAMUS HELPS BABY ANIMALS
CROSS A RAGING RIVER.