most of the water has now gone
the channels carried little more than
trickles compared with what once flowed
here
[Applause]
only the tracks of the departing hippos
remain
[Laughter]
[Music]
their paths now dry
still link the last remaining pools
and the grasses they depend on will soon
wither and die
most hippos have headed north following
their all-important water
some are still in search of a refuge
[Applause]
[Music]
only a few pools in the area are still
big enough to hold a hippo pod
and many pods are forced to share
large groups of up to 200 hippos crowd
together in the last of the water
the pressure is mounting
and new arrivals just stir things up
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
the shrinking pools have also trapped
fish
and they attract fishermen
[Music]
[Music]
pelicans arrive in their thousands
[Music]
[Applause]
this number of birds could clean out a
pool in just a few days
[Music]
so the fish eagles need to get in first
[Music]
the fish gather in shoals around the
hippos for safety
[Music]
but the fish eagles aren’t easily put
off
the hungry pelicans move in closer
and a feeding frenzy begins
[Applause]
activity is too much for some of them
they become increasingly territorial
and irritable
one ball loses his tamper and overreacts
[Music]
the crocodiles make a meal of the
casualties
[Music]
you
