TANZANIA ~ Hippos - Lake Manyara National Park ~

... Jambo🙂 from Tanzania... lovely views of hippos taking mud baths... one of the highlights visiting this great National Park is the "hippo pool" located on the northern shores of lake Manyara... home to a large number of hippos... the third largest land mammal on Earth... you might think they look fat, grey, and harmless... in fact, they are the most aggressive creatures in Africa...  they really kill more people than any other animal in Africa... as I've done already a few time before I donated also this year money to a charity called 'Hearts in Unity' (to buy school supplies) and then receiving a postcard written by a Tanzanian child as a thank you.... I couldn't resist this offer, and the money went to a good cause❤️...Thanks a lot Kareni going to the Uraki Primary School Primary School...✿◕ ‿ ◕✿

Located in the northern part of Tanzania, Lake Manyara National Park is one of the smallest parks with a size of 330 km² and was established in 1960.

The park is divided in 3 distinct areas, the forest area, the hippo area and marshy wet lands and the very large lake itself.

The scientific name of the common hippo is Hippopotamus amphibius, from the Greek hippos (‘horse’), potamos (‘river’), amfi (‘both sides’), and bios (‘life’), meaning ‘the river horse that lives on both sides’. This name refers to the fact that the hippo lives in water as well as on dry land.

These huge animals, males measuring up to 3.5 m and weighing up to 3 tons, spend most of the time submerged in ponds or rivers, or basking in the sun along the shores. These huge semi-aquatic mammals, weighing up to three tonnes and can reaching speeds up to 30km/h. They excrete a red sweat creating a varnish-like layer, which protects the animal from getting sunburned.

Stamps:

Wild Animals of Africa
(Issued 28-10-2010)