Tanzania: Waiting for Hugo

The hippo's name is Hugo,

He lives in Hippo Bay.

He does not need finances,

He does not smoke or drink,

He only needs his chances,

To stay alive and sing.

—Popular Tanzanian song

It is hardly My Fair Lady. But then again, neither is Hugo. He is a two-ton, five-year-old behemoth who in the course of a busy year has become the scourge of peasant farmers outside Dar es Salaam, the embarrassment of Tanzania's game department, the favorite of Tanzania's children, the object of a crusade by the nation's animal lovers, and the talk...