Understanding the Hippo Sign

Hippo

Where: On roads running near rivers, dams, lakes and wetlands, and on roads through or beside reserves where hippos are present.

Purpose: To warn that hippos may be on or crossing the road. This sign matters most after dark — hippos spend the day in water and come out at night to graze, often several hundred metres from the water.

Action Required by Driver: Reduce speed sharply at night on any road carrying this sign. A hippo is dark, enormous and almost invisible against an unlit verge until you are on top of it. If you meet one, stop well back and wait, and never place your vehicle between a hippo and the water — that is the direction it will run, and it will go through whatever is in the way. Do not try to pass it on the water side.