Letter 8: The Most Dangerous Animal

So, what do you think is the most dangerous wild animal we encountered in Africa? (I'm not considering humans, which are of course the most dangerous animal of all.)

I'm guessing some of you will say Lion.
Lions can certainly be dangerous and you don't want to mess with them, but they don't ordinarily view humans as prey animals to be hunted and eaten, as Polar Bears do, for example.

Lioness
Serengeti
(Click on any image to enlarge it)

Another good guess would be Hippopotamus.
Hippos are certainly dangerous. A hippo can bite a person in two, and that has happened, but it usually doesn't happen unless the person has done something terribly unwise, such as try to get close to a baby hippo to get a better picture.

Hippopotamus
Serengeti

We had to be very careful of hippos in several places we stayed in Kenya and Tanzania. At one hotel, they regularly came up onto the lawn outside our room at night to graze on the grass. We were wakened by their grunting and snorting and chomping. When we shined a flashlight out the window (we were strictly forbidden to go outside after dark), we could see from their eyeshine that they were only about 20 feet away from us. The next morning, we found hippo footprints right outside.

Hippo footprints
Lake Baringo

Actually, however, the most dangerous animal in the places we were traveling is this. This is the African Buffalo. It eats grass, not people, but it has a very bad temper (and isn't terribly bright), so it often attacks people just because they're there. In fact, it kills more people (and more lionesses) than any other animal in Africa. It tends to come charging out of the bushes to go after people who didn't even know there were any Buffalo around.

African Buffalo
Lake Nakuru

You can get an idea of how big a Buffalo's horns are from this picture of our friend Bob.

Bob
Ngorongoro Crater

So, Buffalo were the main reason we weren't allowed to get out of our van in any of the national parks in Kenya and Tanzania. (Fortunately, Buffalo don't often attack vans.)

I was particularly wary of Buffalo because a few years ago when we were traveling in the High Arctic on an old Russian icebreaker, I was charged by a Muskox while we were walking on Alex Heiberg Island (at about 80 degrees North). The Muskox is a cousin of the Buffalo, but it's supposed to have a much milder temper than the Buffalo, so I knew I didn't want to mess with a Buffalo.

Aunt Melinda

I'm guessing some of you will say Lion. Lions can certainly be dangerous and you don't want to mess with them, but they don't ordinarily view humans as prey animals to be hunted and eaten, as Polar Bears do, for example.	Lioness Serengeti (Click on any image to enlarge it)
Another good guess would be Hippopotamus. Hippos are certainly dangerous. A hippo can bite a person in two, and that has happened, but it usually doesn't happen unless the person has done something terribly unwise, such as try to get close to a baby hippo to get a better picture.	Hippopotamus Serengeti
We had to be very careful of hippos in several places we stayed in Kenya and Tanzania. At one hotel, they regularly came up onto the lawn outside our room at night to graze on the grass. We were wakened by their grunting and snorting and chomping. When we shined a flashlight out the window (we were strictly forbidden to go outside after dark), we could see from their eyeshine that they were only about 20 feet away from us. The next morning, we found hippo footprints right outside.	Hippo footprints Lake Baringo
Actually, however, the most dangerous animal in the places we were traveling is this. This is the African Buffalo. It eats grass, not people, but it has a very bad temper (and isn't terribly bright), so it often attacks people just because they're there. In fact, it kills more people (and more lionesses) than any other animal in Africa. It tends to come charging out of the bushes to go after people who didn't even know there were any Buffalo around.	African Buffalo Lake Nakuru
You can get an idea of how big a Buffalo's horns are from this picture of our friend Bob.	Bob Ngorongoro Crater