An overheating hippo was so
desperate to cool down that he climbed over the side of a 3m (10ft) water tower for a nice long soak.
However, after happily splashing around for a while, the mammal found it could not get out of the pool and was well and truly stuck.
Luckily, a farm worker noticed water spilling over the side of the concrete container and spotted two enormous nostrils poking out of the tank.
Equipped with a hydraulic crane and a cage, hippo hunter Chris Hobkirk and his team from the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Association set to work. In a four-hour operation, they drained the tank and used poles to gently nudge the hippo into the 3m-long (10ft) steel cage before winching it to safety.
Although this hippo went to extreme lengths to cool down it is by nature a semi-aquatic animal.
They usually stay in water all day until stepping on to land at dusk to graze.
Mr Hobkirk – who has rescued more than 180 stranded hippos in the past six years
clipped from: www.metro.co.uk 
