In 1992, when her geologist husband was sent to a remote bush camp in Zimbabwe at a time of severe drought, Karen Paolilo stepped in to save the lives of a group of hippos who were going to die. With help from the British animal charity Care for the Wild International, she raised over 26,000 pounds to feed them and give them their own artificial water source as their habitat, the Turgwe River, had completely dried up.

The husband and wife team, with their Hippo friends, have been through natural disasters such as floods, land invasions and having their lives threatened by guns, mobs and violence. The area they now live in with the hippos is called the Save Valley Conservancy.

Since Karen’s intervention and the formation of the Turgwe Hippo Trust, the hippos have prospered, but not without severe stress and pressures upon her and her husband.

This is the story of her life, of how an English girl came to womanhood and found her dream – a dream that has at times been harder than one could ever have imagined.