Quit Sitting on My Head!

This was a muffled phrase heard frequently in the early years of our marriage, as one or the other of us would sneak attack. It’s been a long time since either of us have had the energy or ambition for pouncing, and the best effort these days is generally crop-dusting or cup-caking, followed by a giggle.

expat life Pretoria South Africa travel Kruger National Park
Hippopotami (Yes. Look it up.) wading in a pool in Kruger National Park

I couldn’t help drawing the parallel when I saw this hammerkop sitting on the head of a hippo at The Kruger.

expat life Pretoria South Africa travel Kruger National Park
Hamerkop sitting atop the head of a hippo. While oxpeckers commonly remove ticks and leeches, hamerkop use the hippo as a perch from which to search for prey.

And while, to the best of my knowledge, neither my husband nor I spent quality time (whilst sitting atop each others heads) grooming ticks and leeches, at least Kurt never shat on my head.

expat life Pretoria South Africa travel Kruger National Park
Even submerged, the hippo provides the hamerkop an ideal spot to search for fish in deeper water.

Hope this Thursday post (actually on Thursday this time) helps you realize that while yes, there’s still one more day to go in the week, at least someone isn’t sitting on your head.

Love, Marla

expat life Pretoria South Africa travel Kruger National Park
I bet there is a lot of crop-dusting in this group.
A group of hippo is called any of the following: herd; pod; bloat (my favorite); dale.

11 thoughts on “Quit Sitting on My Head!

  1. The sitting on your head wouldn’t be much of a problem, the shitting in the hand…..
    I gotta plan my vacations and just go, I wanna be eaten by a hippo after a hug a baby elephant.

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