Thursday, May 29, 2014

Time to relax now...

..... with "Jessica" the world famous hippo!
 Brass organised an exciting and very informative day for us all on Saturday - after the graduation at Campfire Academy the previous night. We started the day off with a visit to Jessica the world famous hippo.
 She was rescued in the 2000 floods that swept through the Limpopo Province, as she was washed up onto the banks of Tonie Joubert's property; her umbilical cord still attached to her. The Blyde River was in flood and little Jessica became the new member of their household! She grew up in their home and became almost human. She sleeps on a mattress on the verandah at night with a crew of English Bull Terriers who are her best friends!
Jessica now swims in the river at the bottom of Tonie & Shirley's garden & visits them every day for some black Rooibos tea and a few kilos of raw veges. She is still allowed to enter their house at her leisure and even watches a bit of TV! She has also starred in 97 movies and is famous around the world!
We were invited to personally meet Jessica down at the river and feed her her bottle and some veges. Wow!! Awesome! I couldn't wait, knowing that hippos are guilty of killing more humans than any other animal in Africa!

Our visit started off with an informative presentation about Jessica, hippos, wildlife and Africa!




Mom and Cheney watching the presentation.



One of the Bull Terriers who is sooo friendly that he climbs up onto the table to look you in the eye!



Meet our own Jessica!




Eating sliced sweet potato...



Richard, one of the Swedish students, having a go...



I also tried my hand at feeding her. Hippos have such thick skin




Time for a little kiss!!



Rooibos tea. Apparantely Jessica drinks about 20 litres of this brew every day!



The love of his life...





Bev also loved the contact with Jessica



Come on, dad!! Give us some more



Our Cheney also loved Jessica and has volunteered her services at this sanctuary












Well that's Jessica and I trust that you have enjoyed the visit with her as much as we did. See you tomorrow for our next stop to......

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