Mike took the rare chance of an underwater encounter. ‘I spent just 20 seconds with them, enough time to get one set of shots,’ he explains. His wide angle capturing the hippos in their daytime realm.

The Mara River makes the perfect home for hippos. They graze the surrounding reed beds and grassland and swim in the bends and pools of deep water. The river supports around 2,000 of these semi ...

But encountering a real-life hippo in the wild ... and breathe while remaining mostly underwater. Since their skin is very sensitive, they spend most of the day wallowing in mud or water.