Elephant crossing the Elephants river, through hippo infested water, in the Kruger National Park, South Africa (KPSERIES NO3) by Winch

Canon SX10

No3, of 4 so far, in series on Kruger National Park. To see series search for "kpseries"
We were busy gigapanning the 20 plus hippos in the Elephants river near Letaba rest camp, when a herd of elephant crossed the river. Luckily they also crossed the field of view we were shooting, from the Troopers roof top.
Hippopotamuses are gregarious, living in groups of up to 30 animals; such a group is called a pod, herd, dale or bloat. A male hippopotamus is known as a bull, a female as a cow and a baby as a calf. They are also known as the Common Hippopotamus or the Nile Hippopotamus. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives—from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, and reproduction—occur in the water.
Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 km (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night. Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants. Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation. The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress. –Wikipedia—
Hippos are the most feared animals in Africa. Each year more people are killed by hippos than by all the other animals combined.
Panorama size116 megapixels( now JPEG) Focal Length 245.5mm H overlap 42.2 to 44.2 V overlap 45.9 to 48.5 Input Images 28 7 x