Hippo Pools

Kilwa boasts an incredible array of marine life. Hidden in the mangrove forests around Kilwa Masoko are large hippo pools. Due to hunting in the last year many of these have now disappeared.

We must now travel a 3 hour drive from Kilwa to a sacred site in the bush. In an average game-park hippo pool you may see ten or eleven of these ungainly mammals, near Kilwa there are nearly two hundred. These numbers are possible due to the isolated location and the local’s fiercely protective attitude towards them – according to legend the hippos are their reincarnated ancestors .

One of these pools is a sacred site for the nearby village where, for over one hundred years, one family has provided a “Hippo Guardian” to protect these animals. This amazing site also supports elephants, buffaloes, lions, wild dogs, hyenas and many other species however they are rarely seen.