Waiting...

In the early hours of the morning, when the sun was barely reaching his enclosure, trees swayed while he lay there still, waiting. The vast creature lurked through the murky water like a partially submerged submarine. It was a calm morning, so the shiny surface reflected like a window; a window that showed the true beauty of nature for those who looked into it. However, despite it’s beauty and serenity, the atmosphere in this place could suddenly change. Power, panic and noise could just be enough to break the peace in this calmed place. The heavy animal waited… he had seen something.

In the deep green tinged water, it lays waiting and waiting, still nothing had come. Though later, things will change… the following day hope came. He rose from the water, it slid down his camel-like back, and he shook off the remaining water like a washed dog. He grunted and stomped over to a slight patch of grass with a miniature awning built for animals. He was ready… But for what?

He waited for a very long time, forty-three hours in fact. Then it arrived. The most terrifying thing any animal in the zoo was scared of. The tsunami. It came every year, but there was one thing that was most unclear and unfair: zookeepers survive, at home, safe from danger. At least that’s what the animals think. The beauty and serenity matches the price of this amazing, posh zoo: breath taking. But all was about to change with this one thing. It usually comes and goes, but everything changed last year. The tsunami persisted for a whole week, without stopping. It was completely tiring.

Nothing compares to this huge monstrous wave that comes every year. Why mother nature, why? Every animal in this zoo hates it. They can never do anything to stop it from coming. It’s already too late this year, water is breaking its barriers, and starting to flood in.

Water crashed through the fences, tearing the wooden timber to shreds. Some animals struggled to make it to dry land, while others completely got washed out. The hippo still had hope, though it stayed completely stationary, right there in his enclosure, not moving a muscle, luckily being able to swim.


After every tsunami, the zoo needs repairing, but this year the zookeepers can’t afford it and the zoo remained destroyed. Though the only thing that seems different is that animals are not longer kept in enclosures, which enables them to roam freely around the zoo. Visitors interact with the hippo who remains in his spacious pool of mossy sludge. He became a special tourist attraction.

Every morning and every afternoon, he lays in the green-tinged water while the trees sway....waiting.


by Chloe Henshall

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