Campers Get a Too Close for Comfort View of Two Huge Hippos Violently Clashing Tusks
One of the great joys of going on an African safari and visiting the land of the big five is being able to watch predatorial fights. It’s one thing to watch two male lions duke it out on YouTube, but it is an entirely different thing actually to watch it happen a few feet from you. Well, for some campers in South Africa, they got a little closer than they probably would have liked.
Hippo Sighting in South Africa
The next YouTube video posted at the bottom of this blog post takes us to Africa, according to the channel. This video was shared by the Capture the Wild YouTube page. This channel is dedicated to offering the best videos in South Africa. We see incredible videos of animals such as buffalos, lions, elephants, leopards, and impalas, to name a few. And, of course, the enormous hippo!
Hippos Vs. Campers
At the start of the video posted below, we see two enormous hippos. They look to be near a campsite in Africa. They got out from their enclosure and got up close to the campers and tourists who were out on the deck watching this unfold. While brave for taking this video, it is also foolish as these angry hippos could change their course at any time!
These massive hippos face each other, and then one of them hightails it out of there. However, the other hippo is close on its heels. If we pause the video at 32 seconds, we see these hippos going tusk to tusk. Their mouths are open incredibly wide, up to four feet, basically enough room for a child to fit into.
They continue to clash angrily with one another. Each sees whose weight and power is more as they continue this fight. And the fight is ferocious; with each hippo being able to weigh up to five tons, we are shocked these campers stayed put!
Then they suddenly calm down. They still stand face to face, but they stop the fighting. For over a minute, they just stand across from each other. However, one of the hippos tries to leave, which makes the other hippo even more irate, and he lunges at this hippo to stop his exit. The two duke it out for a little while longer.
Why Do Male Hippos Fight?

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Some of the most common reasons you will find that male animals fight in the animal kingdom are either because of territory or mating rights. Other issues of fighting would be over food or even to kick someone out of a herd.
Exclusive African Safaris agrees by stating that “ A dominant male hippo in a group (herd) will sometimes fight with other males that are disrespecting his authority or invading his groups’ territory.”