The Turgwe Hippo Trust is not just about the hippos. The Trust has many other wild animals living around us such as elephants, lions, hyenas and many antelopes and smaller mammals.
Squiggle was found by myself and Jean-Roger lying under a tree with her umbilical chord still attached, she was about one week to ten days of age. One of her eyes was still closed.
We brought her home as she had not a chance of survival but I did leave a trail camera there to see if her mother came back. The mother never returned but that night two lions walked right by the camera next to the tree where we had found her.
We named her Squiggle as she was always screaming and wiggling and now one year later she is very much a part of the family. Our idea is to allow her her freedom but very gradually, by slowly letting her get accustomed to being free. At this moment she has the run of the entire house and lives happily with our four cats who share the house with her. She is very much loved by both of us.
We are going to build a wired cage extended onto our bathroom in order to get her used to being outside. Then later we will put an exit hole into the wire so that she can leave and explore the bush around us, but be able to come back into the cage and the house is she wants to.