Not every story travellers remember begins with a lion and buffalo stand-off or a baby elephant mock charging. Sometimes the stories that stay with us are the simpler ones. The sight of a familiar set of ears surfacing from a dam morning after morning, returning year after year in search of something more. Until this year.
In every great story told of Africa’s animals, there is one key aspect that reminds us how similar they can be to us. They too search for stability, comfort, and companionship. Each animal carries a story not so different from our own.
At Hideaways Nantwich Lodge in northern Hwange National Park, guests often sit with a coffee in hand, watching the dam while waiting to head out on a morning game drive in search of Hwange’s incredible wildlife. Yet for some, the first sighting of the day happens before they even step onto the vehicle. It is here that many guests first meet Ndlala.
Somewhere beneath the surface of the lodge’s dam lives Nantwich’s resident hippo. With two rounded ears and watchful eyes peering just out of the water, Ndlala has become a familiar and comforting sight for both guests and staff alike, though spotting him is never guaranteed.
From as far back as the team can remember, Ndlala has followed the same pattern. Every year, he leaves the dam at Nantwich and disappears down the ancient hippo paths toward the Deka River, travelling in the direction of Croc Pools, where other hippos gather. And every year he returns alone.
The guides, staff, and returning guests of Nantwich began to recognise the pattern and eventually gave him the name “Ndlala”. Taking his name from the Zulu word meaning “hunger”, it is certainly a fitting description. Guests often see him grazing more than resting in the water, slowly feeding along the banks of the dam. Yet his hunger has never been just for grass. His real hunger lies in his search for companionship.
In the wild, male hippos often leave familiar waters in search of new pods where they might one day challenge for territory or find a mate. For years, everyone assumed this was Ndlala’s story too. That one season, he would leave Nantwich and simply never return.
Each year, there was always the quiet moment when Ndlala disappeared downriver, followed by the familiar mixture of relief and sadness when his ears surfaced again in the dam below the lodge. Relief that he had returned safely. Sadness that his search had once again been unsuccessful.
Over time, Ndlala became more than just another animal passing through. Guests arriving at Nantwich would often be told about the resident hippo who lived in the dam below the lodge. Many spotted him grazing along the banks at sunset or saw his ears rising quietly from the water in the early mornings. Even the wildlife around him became part of his world. Lions often drink from the same waterhole, mega herds of buffalo gather nearby in the dry season, and a resident crocodile occasionally crosses his path. Through it all, Ndlala remained.
Until the end of last year, when one morning the guiding team scanned the dam and noticed that Ndlala was gone.
At first, it seemed like every other year. The familiar departure down the river in search of a pod somewhere along the waterways of Hwange. After years of watching this pattern unfold, the guides were used to the quiet absence he left behind. They knew the routine. He would leave, and eventually he would return.
Weeks began to pass. Then months.
Each morning, the guides still glanced at the water, hoping to see those familiar ears rise from the dam once again. But as time went on, the checks became less frequent. The absence lingered longer this year, making everyone wonder if Ndlala had finally moved on.
One morning, while doing his usual checks, something caught Nantwich’s front-of-house staff member Lee-Roy’s attention out of the corner of his eye. There they were. Ndlala’s familiar pair of ears rising slowly from the water. At first, he assumed it was simply the familiar return from another fruitless search.
Then he noticed something else. Another pair of ears beside him.
Lee-Roy had to look twice, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things. But it was true. Ndlala had returned, and this time he had not returned alone.
What began as a pair soon became something more, and today the dam below Nantwich is home to a growing pod.
For years, everyone believed Ndlala had been searching for a new home and a new family somewhere along the rivers of Hwange. But perhaps they had it wrong all along. Perhaps Ndlala was never searching for a new home. Perhaps he was simply searching for someone to bring back to the one he already loved. Right here at Nantwich.
His home, where lions still drink from the waterhole, buffalo herds gather in the distance, and his familiar dam waits beneath the lodge each morning while he grazes along its banks at sunset. No longer just the hippo with an insatiable hunger for companionship. Still a hungry hippo, of course, but perhaps no longer a lonely one.
And now, as guests once again sit with coffee in hand, watching the dam before their morning game drive, they wait for those familiar ears to rise from the water.
This time, there are four.
