In part 1, I shared the story of how my tracker, Ben, and I had tracked down and come face to face with a rogue hippo we had been asked to remove from Kyle National Park in the then Rhodesia. Having squeezed the dart gun’s trigger, we were waiting for what would come next…
The silencer worked a charm – there wasn’t so much as a “smut” as the dart left the barrel. We saw a flash of the dart fletches in the torchlight as the dart struck home and stuck. The hippo instantly jumped to its feet and spun around to face me. Then it stopped dead. I didn’t move. The hippo didn’t either. Neither did Ben. I kept the spotlight focused on the animal’s eyes. We were now standing nose-to-nose!
This was the classical “standoff” that had ended in a stalemate. Who would give way first? I had a feeling that if Ben or I moved now, the beast would attack us. We were just three paces from its nose. Our best chance was to stand perfectly still, keep the spot on the hippo’s eyes, and wait for however long it took for the phencyclidine to take effect. The minutes ticked by... I began to feel muscle cramps in my legs. I kept my capture gun out from even the penumbral light of the torch. The hippo must not see any movement, and it was vital for me to keep the spot focused on its eyes. Silence reigned...
Five minutes dragged into ten, then fifteen. The hippo staggered, let out a giant sigh and sagged to the ground. It began to breathe heavily. I heaved a sigh of relief. “Well done, Ben!” I said to my tracker, clapping him proudly on the shoulder. “Hah!” he exclaimed in
