Gifts for hippopotamus lovers - help the hippopotamus and the pygmy hippo

You'll find the common hippopotamus in western, central, eastern and southern parts of Africa.  But African wildilfe are under threat from many pressures, including deforestation & hunting, and the hippopoptamus is just one species whose numbers are dwindling.  Their teeth are in demand as hunters turn to them after the ban on the elephant ivory trade.  In the last 10 years, hippo numbers have declined by 20% and some areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and West Africa have seen a particular decrease in numbers. 

There are a number of ways you can support the hippopoptamus and give the hippo lover in your life a hippo gift!

You can adopt a hippopoptamus from the Turgwe Hippo Trust 

The Trust cares for a number of wild African hippos in Zimbabwe.  In the south east of Zimbabwe sits the 'Save Valley Conservancy' and it's limited to the north by a road, on the east and south by rivers.  The Turgwe River flows from west to east to join the Save River, and the hippos live  at the Turgwe River.   There's a lovely gallery of with wonderful images of hippos and other wildlife here.

Looking back to how the Turgwe Hippo Trust started, in 1992, Karen Paolillo's geologist husband was sent to a remote bush camp there.  There was a severe drought, and Karen stepped in to safe the lives of a group of hippos there who were going to die.  Karen raised over £26,000 with the help of the UK charity Care for the Wild to feed them.  You can read the Trust's history here. It is pretty incredible what people can do when they set their minds to it, and their story is inspiring.  Today, the Trust looks after hippos and other wildlife benefit from their efforts, too! 

So how can you help the Turgwe Hippo Trust care for these hippos?

• You can adopt a hippo and help the Trust with their daily running costs of caring for both the hippos and other wildife who benefit from the work they do!  There's a choice of hippos to adopt with lots of info about each one!  The Trust has quite a number of videos on their website showing hippos & other wildlife around their base.  Adopt a hippo for £50 for a year and your gift will play a part in their on-going care.  
• You can also simply donate to the Trust to help them look after the hippos in their care.   The Trust also needs to buy essential materials to keep saving hippos.  For instance, it operates a pump in the river to keep the hippos with water, it needs fuel to run the generator and the Trust's vehicles.  
• You can buy something from their online shop such as Karen''s bookk, "Hippos, a Mongoose and Me", and art work. 
  
  
  

Support the Trust's work and buy Karen Paolillo's book
for £11.35 from Hive.co.uk
(This is a paid link, all commissions will go to the Trust to help Karen look after those hippos!)

Did you know?

The hippopoptamus is one of the largest land animals in the world, weighing up to 3,000kg.  Despite their size, they can run for up to speeds of 30km an hour for very short bursts of time. This is despite the fact they can weigh up to 3,000kg. 

Do you want to give a Hippo Soft Toy?

This is Hamleys® Hollie Hippo Soft Toy, just the thing for cuddles!  Hollie Hippo is 20cm high.  And she comes from Hamleys, the world famous toy shop.   Find out more from Hamleys here.