Page 114 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL WINTER 2024 SCOTLAND

SAFARI
Story & Photography by Anne Krueger

My Two-Week Tour Through Zimbabwe And Botswana

e knew what it meant when the
phone rang at 1 a.m. in our ho‐
W tel room in Zimbabwe. The hip‐
pos were outside.
“Don’t go outside. Wait for me,” the ho‐
tel security guard told me. We had run into
him earlier that evening and he offered to
call our room if the hippos showed up.
My daughter, Melissa Hasemyer, and I
got dressed and opened the front door to
our room. In the darkness, I saw only a
huge black blob in the night. As my eyes
adjusted to the darkness, I realized the
blob was a hippo, about 20 feet away,
munching on the grass.
We watched in wonderment, whispering
that we would run inside and shut the door
if the hippo showed any inclination of com‐
ing our way. It ignored us.
The only sound was the hippo chewing
as it grazed on the lawn. We soon heard
another similar sound – and saw three
more hippos join the first.
They lumbered away from us, passing
within a few feet of other hotel rooms on
their way out.
Our experience with the hippos was our
introduction to the wildlife of Africa during
our two-week tour through Zimbabwe and
Botswana. I had wanted to visit Africa for
decades, and Melissa eagerly accepted my

114 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE WINTER 2025