On our second day in the Mara we too a full day for game drives and travelled to the Mara Triangle, stepped into the Serengeti in Tanzania, and visited the hippo pools on the Mara River. There, with the protection of Kenyan police (because of how territorial hippos are), we hiked out onto where the wildebeast cross the river during the Great Migration, saw Nile crocodiles, and several hippos. The hippos bathe during the day and graze at night. You can hear the loud grunts they make in this video.
Oh, and in case you wonder how they protect their babies from the crocodiles (which are really their only predator), I've included a picture of a hippo skull to show how large their teeth actually are. They are known to bite a crocodile in half if it gets close to a baby, and couple that with their territorial instincts and ability to run on land up to 25km/hr, they can be a menace.
Bite a croc in 1/2! Wow! That would certainly make me think twice about messing with them.
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