‘A bloat of hippos’ was a witty and whimsical linguistic contrast to the almost Orwellian ‘nest of vipers’ and ‘murder of crows’ that I had always attributed to poetic license. My smile matched his as I laughed at how apropos the word seemed at describing this mass of bulky beasts. “A bloat of hippos!” he answered rhetorically with the grin of a man who knew this tidbit of information would delight his guests.
“Do you know what those are called?” the safari guide at Botswana’s Chobe Game Lodge queried while I watched a large group of hippos unabashedly bathing in the waters of the Chobe River.
