Ron Crittall [UK Financial Times] meets a woman to whom hippos, threatened and abandoned during the drought of 1991/92 owe their lives.
—oOo—
Bob gapping
It was dusk, Karen Paolillo sat on the banks of the now flowing Turgwe River, in south-east Zimbabwe, talking to the pod of hippos grouped attentively in the water below. “Here my guys. Bobby, come on, my boy. Come on, Bob. You see how calm they are? There’s no fear there – that’s fabulous – you would never have got that a year ago”. The previous day we had an indication of how special these hippos are, when they clambered out of the water on to an island– in our presence. Hippos may be large but they are timid when in the presence of humans. Their standard reaction is to get in — not out of — their patch of water, and submerge. But these hippos owe their lives to Karen. They have learned to trust each other during the last three years since the drought which hit Zimbabwe in the 1991/92.
The south-east of the country was almost a desert – there was no water or grass, and wildlife and stock were dying everywhere. There were efforts to rescue cattle, elephants, rhino and other game — but not the hippo.
Karen was living above the Turgwe River with her French husband, Jean-Roger. It was not their land; they were staying where his job as a geologist had taken him.
“I approached the one landowner of the hippos. Here wildlife is owned by the person whose land they are on – and asked what’s going to happen to the hippo”. He replied, “I’m awfully sorry – We’ve rhino here; it’s an endangered species, and I’ve got my livelihood, the cattle.” He did agree, however, to Karen trying to get sponsorship to save them.
The first problem was whether they could be fed, and if so with what.
Karen approached Clem Coetzee, the fundi (Zimbabwe’s word for expert) of wildlife management. He could only make suggestions because nobody had fed hippos in the wild before.
Then a local sugar company produced a survival ration as their contribution to drought relief. It was a mixture of molasses, cotton-seed, sugar cane, vitamins and urea.
Karen said:
“Then – it’s a long story and it was happening quickly; it was a major rush — the next thing was to get them to feed. These are wild animals; they’re not used to being fed by man but they were starving. They’d actually dispersed from the river and were looking for food. We (my husband and I) put food down in the river, and we waited. We put molasses on the food to attract them.”
She began on March 3rd, and on the 18th they began to feed. “From the minute they started feeding — I had four at that stage — they started coming back. It was as though word went out– I don’t know how– and eventually I was feeding 11.”
Then her husband’s job required him to move away. They decided that Karen would stay at the camp and feed the animals. By then she had secured sponsorship of about ZIM $50,000, an amazing achievement given the demand for help of any sort. “I was responsible to a lot of people, and for me the priority was these animals,” she said.
Not only was she losing the help of her husband, Jean-Roger, but she was also losing the use of his four-wheel drive. This meant that Karen would have to feed the animals from home, rather than by the river. So, before he left, they managed to persuade the hippo to come up the steep bank, all the way to their camp.
It wasn’t just the feed that was a problem. “The river in front of us was totally gone,” said Karen. “We bulldozed here but we hit rock bottom. The British animal charity Care for the Wild International paid for all the water we put in for the hippo. We had to transport water from 16 km away by the use of piping and borrow it off other people who needed it. We had to put in troughs for drinking water; we had to put in a pan (a depression to hold water, cemented and large enough to allow the hippo to submerge themselves).
“The drought broke on October 13th 1992. That morning I took a photo of wet hippo feet in the mud on my way down. They were in the river and they were like children. That’s the only way I can put it. They were bouncing like dolphins in the newly flowing river and they were unbelievable.”
The breaking of the drought and the return to normal for the area, the river and the hippo, did not end Karen’s involvement. “I’ve become addicted. In fact, my husband reckons he’d rather I had an affair then have me feeling the way I do about the hippos,” she said.
Jean-Roger and Karen have now built a permanent home above the Turgwe River, but he can only be there for about five days in every five weeks. Karen has created the Turgwe Hippo Trust to look after the future well-being of the hippo.
One of the main tasks is to prepare for the next drought, which will inevitably come. While more artificial pans will have to be built, the top priority is to drill a borehole, which will not be cheap or easy. This is remote bush, 465 kms from Harare, the Zimbabwean capital.
Karen has started a behavioral study of the hippo. Another Trust aim is to restock with hippo. The Conservancy is already bringing in rhino, elephant and buffalo. Karen hopes that, where hippo are under threat elsewhere in Zimbabwe because of culling or crop raiding, they can also be rescued and brought to the Conservancy.
The Turgwe hippo that Karen hand-fed have now dispersed, except for the group below her home. They have been breeding and have produced two babies since the drought.
Bobby’s the big bull there; Blackface is the mother of the little one; “Three,” who was born on November 3rd 1993. That’s “Lace” in the background, and Tembia is the other calf her son. He’s just over a year old and he’s hiding – you can just see his nose. Tem! Come on Tembia! No, you don’t want to show yourself.”
“Goodbye, guys. I’m going now. Goodbye, Goodbye.” Karen stood up and walked into the bush, out of sight of the river and of the hippos.
A pause. Then Bobby spoke.
HUNH ..HUNH..HUNH….HUNH…HUNH…HUNH.
Hear about feeding wildlife especially the Turgwe Hippos and many other wild animals in severe droughts where they all would have perished. Presented by Karen Paolillo the founder of the Turgwe Hippo Trust.
Watch video footage filmed from trail cameras in situ at the feeding areas during the 2024 drought. See unusual and interesting footage of various wild animals that fed during that 10-month period. Hippos, Elephants, buffalo, warthogs, wildebeest, zebra etc.
Meet Anthony Martin CBE, of the AVM Foundation.
Watch 15-minute film created by Actor, Filmmaker and Producer Dan Richardson. Filmed on site in Zimbabwe in July at Turgwe Hippo Trust.
Meet Actor and Animal Advocate and Auctioneer for the evening PETER EGAN, After Life, Death at a funeral, Downton Abbey, Chariots of Fire and so much more from stage and screen. Also meet Actor Mark Bonnar, Shetlands, Napoleon etc.
Donate to a cause that helps not just the Turgwe Hippos but any wildlife in the area. Protecting them from poaching, sport hunting, and natural events such as droughts and floods. People that step in every single day to keep them all safe and alive in the wild.
Purchase one or both books, A HIPPO LOVE STORY or HIPPOS A MONGOOSE AND ME published by Penguin South Africa, written and personally signed by Karen Paolillo; memoir and stories about living and protecting hippos and other wild animals in a remote area of the African bush for over three decades.
Purchase ‘Legacy of Love’, a book that celebrates the relationship between animals and actors, artists, photographers, animal charity founders; this includes the Turgwe Hippo Trust.
Purchase the 2027 Turgwe Hippo Trust hippo calendar presenting some of the hippos of the Turgwe River or the 2027 wild animals calendar. Images for both calendars by Karen Paolillo.
Join all of us for an inspiring evening learning more about the hippos, one of Africa’s iconic species, and helping to protect the Turgwe Hippos to continue their wild lives in the south east lowveld of Zimbabwe within the Turgwe River.
Auction items:
1)Stay for 2 people with Karen and Jean-Roger at Hippo Haven, headquarters of the Turgwe Hippo Trust in Zimbabwe for 9 nights, which can include 2 nights in the Gona Re Zhou National Park at a rustic bush camp where you pay National Parks for that experience. Jean-Roger and Karen Paolillo will personally drive you there (2 hours from Hippo Haven) and bring and prepare the food.This does not include air tickets to Zimbabwe or travel by courier service Harare to Hippo Haven and Return. (5-hour drive).Jean-Roger and Karen Paolillo will pick you up at the entrance to the Conservancy which is 70 kilometres from Hippo Haven and return you to the boom at the end of you stay , where you will be collected by the Courier service.
Accommodation in Harare at your own cost, the Paolillo’s can suggest hotels and guest lodges. Dates this is available at this moment are between June to end of September, date to be arranged with the Paolillos by end of November 2026. Winter months in Zimbabwe i.e. cooler nights June to August. August and September hotter around 30 degrees in August in daytime but it can go as high as 36 degrees in September, climate change notwithstanding.You may be lucky enough to meet Max hippo, the Turgwe Hippo Trust house hippo if he is still visiting the house in 2027.
Value of Stay at Hippo Haven, Turgwe Hippo Trust Zimbabwe £3700
Transport Harare to boom and return to Harare 900km. £800 to be paid by winning bid
CHITAKE This is one of several paintings I have done of Zimbabwe’s Chitake Springs, one of the wonders of the wildlife world. The Chitake river bed itself is sandy and dry for most of the year, flanked on both sides by cliffs gouged out by the river over hundreds of years. On top of the cliffs the iconic towering baobab trees, perhaps a thousand years old, add to the grandeur of this gem of wild Africa. A spring wells up and is the only water for many miles. When myself and my family camp here the best times are when we are alone – just us with no noise other than those of a wild world that pays no attention to us. On the occasion of this painting the Cape Buffalo herd of over a thousand has not yet arrived, the lion pride of over 30 individuals is waiting patiently in the shade of the giant baobabs, and the elephant have ambled up for their midday drink. Small numbers of Impala are left after the main herd has finished drinking, Helmeted Guineafowl have arrived, and huge numbers of Cape Turtle Doves are milling around, drinking as fast as they can, then leaving in a flash of wings before the Lanner Falcons strike. This is raw untamed Africa at its best and a paradise for me as an artist.
Value of Chitake £3700 Ant Fynn
Framed size 26”x 36”
I've known about Karen's dedication towards hippos, warthogs and other creatures living locally to her area for a few years now and am happy to help through my art whenever possible. So when she contacted me recently about her latest event being organised for the Turgwe Hippo Trust, I chose this special framed print for her auction at the Royal Geographical Society. Having the THT patron, Peter Egan as the esteemed auctioneer will surely help as he's one of the good guys, involved in many wildlife charities.
Besides 'Hippo' being an embellished print, which means I have personally added many thousands of new pencil strokes over many hours on top of the print making it more dynamic and quite unique. It becomes much closer to an original drawing and this particular copy has also been co-signed by two shining lights of the conservation world, Dame Virginia McKenna and Rula Lenska.
I've been fortunate to have witnessed serene scenes like this many times over the past 36 years, in Kenya, Tanzania, Gabon, Botswana and most of all in South Luangwa, Zambia where hippos abound in their thousands.
Value of HIPPO by Gary Hodges £845 unframed
Size 45.5cm x 15.5cm
Suzie’s animal sculptures have gained great acclaim over the last 35 years and she now has a loyal following both in the UK and abroad. She has undertaken many private and business commissions including sculpture exhibits for a museum in Taiwan and two public installations, one of Nelson the Seal at Looe Harbour in Cornwall, the other of Police Dog Finn at Layston Court Gardens, Buntingford, Hertfordshire. Her work reflects her love of animals and her fascination with their character and form. She often produces work to aid animal charities close to her heart and this has taken her to the Animals Asia bear sanctuaries in China and Vietnam as well as the Turgwe Hippo Trust in Zimbabwe. In recognition of her own four cats who double as artist’s models, Suzie is also a keen supporter of Cats Protection. Her initial work is in clay and her originals can then be cast in bronze resin and/or foundry bronze. All of her work is suitable for the home or garden.
Value of stoneware HIPPO Suzie Marsh £2000
Weight 10kg 45cm long x 24cm deep x 29.5cm high
She is a one-off original sculpture made in stoneware clay.
