Haunt of the Hippo

This is a wonderful film and a true labor of love from filmmakers Mark Deeble and Victoria Stone.

On a hot summers day there is nothing better than watching this documentary about the life of Mzima spring's hippos and the essential role they (and their dung) play in an amazing ecosystem. Each scene is beautifully shot, and the absolute clarity of the spring allows for underwater images that delightfully reveal the day spa of the hippo that exists beneath the surface. There is something strangely satisfying in watching the camera pan across a hippo as it is tended to by hundreds of different fish, each cleaning a different body part: sort of like a great Winnebago going through a carwash manned by happily scrubbing workers.

If sheer visual beauty and interesting story weren't enough, the film also has a fantastic soundtrack of happy African music that lends an necessarily whimsical nature to the life of the hippo. This whimsy is especially appropriate, considering the hippo's co-star... hippo poop. Without hippo poop, Mzima spring would be a dull, lifeless place. But this film shows the true delight of digestion, and the spectacular biodiversity that hundreds of pounds of poop a day can create.