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August 26, 2003

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Begin the day with an elephant charge. We startled this big bull elephant and he returned the favor by stomping within 10 feet of us (Jill snapped this picture as the elephant backed away because while it charged no one was thinking about taking photos).
Our adrenaline day continued in the afternoon with a hippo attack. Without warning, a hippo flared out of the water, bit and flipped over the third canoe of our group. The concussion threw the three passengers, Renee, Vivian, and Chris, onto the river bank (luckily not into the water and the waiting jaws of hungry crocodiles). Jill and I were paddling our canoe a few feet ahead when the crash flipped us around in our seats to see the back end of a bull hippo throwing Renee's canoe a few feet into the air. After putting a few holes in the canoe with its teeth, the hippo dove into the water, then resurfaced twenty yards away and glared at us. We turned our canoe around and helped with the rescue efforts. Vivian and Renee stood laughing on the shore but our guide, James, says they narrowly escaped serious injury or death.
We all needed a drink after today. James received first dibs because he won the impala crap spitting contest (yes, we're serious).
African bush game: instead of watermelon seeds, use impala dung (these pellets are 4 or 5 times larger than watermelon seeds), and spit those babies as far as possible. James could shoot down a bird.