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National Geographic Kids Chapters: Hoops to Hippos!: True Stories of a Basketball Star on Safari
Kitson Jazynka
Boris Diaw
National Geographic Kids
NBA star Boris Diaw of the San Antonio Spurs takes young readers on safari as he explores his off-court passion: wildlife photography! Join Diaw as he escapes from stampeding wildebeests, comes face-to-face with lions, and discovers why you should never come between a hippo and its watery home.Through engaging stories and photos by Diaw, readers will discover a whole new side to this basketball champ. National Geographic Kids Chapter books pick up where the best-selling National Geographic Readers series leaves off, offering young animal lovers who are ready for short chapters lively, exciting, full-color true stories—just right to carry in backpacks, share with friends, and read under the covers at night.
Copyright © 2015 National Geographic Society
All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.
Staff for This Book
Shelby Alinsky, Project Editor
Hillary Leo, Photo Editor
Callie Broaddus, Art Director
Ruth Ann Thompson, Designer
Marfé Ferguson Delano, Editor
Paige Towler, Editorial Assistant
Sanjida Rashid, Design Production Assistant
Colm McKeveny and Michael Cassady, Rights Clearance Specialists
Grace Hill, Managing Editor
Joan Gossett, Senior Production Editor
Lewis R. Bassford, Production Manager
George Bounelis, Manager, Production Services
Susan Borke, Legal and Business Affairs
Published by the National Geographic Society
Gary E. Knell, President and CEO
John M. Fahey, Chairman of the Board
Melina Gerosa Bellows, Chief Education Officer
Declan Moore, Chief Media Officer
Hector Sierra, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Book Division
Senior Management Team, Kids Publishing and Media Nancy Laties Feresten, Senior Vice President; Jennifer Emmett, Vice President, Editorial Director, Kids Books; Julie Vosburgh Agnone, Vice President, Editorial Operations; Rachel Buchholz, Editor and Vice President, NG Kids magazine; Michelle Sullivan, Vice President, Kids Digital; Eva Absher-Schantz, Design Director; Jay Sumner, Photo Director; Hannah August, Marketing Director; R. Gary Colbert, Production Director
Digital Anne McCormack, Director; Laura Goertzel, Sara Zeglin, Producers; Jed Winer, Special Projects Assistant; Emma Rigney, Creative Producer; Brian Ford, Video Producer; Bianca Bowman, Assistant Producer; Natalie Jones, Senior Product Manager
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Trade paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4263-2052-1
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4263-2201-3
Reinforced library edition
ISBN: 978-1-4263-2053-8
v3.1
Version: 2017-07-11
Cover (#ue4ec3fb8-2db7-50d8-8fab-556f55887c7f)
Title Page (#ua63ed8eb-5a79-5de7-8a9a-b72d237afa1b)
Copyright (#ufc472137-e77f-564c-8d94-65d157b5a320)
HOOPS TO HIPPOS! (#u4aff1a12-d06c-57de-af8f-1cb55c78812d)
Chapter 1: The Wild Life (#u6565f130-e829-59fa-8198-fb28f2f85519)
Chapter 2: Safari Sights (#u38e2d7b5-849e-51a8-be75-01f0cd1ab419)
Chapter 3: Fun and Games (#litres_trial_promo)
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1: Sneaky Visitors (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 2: Too Close for Comfort (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 3: Stuck in the Mud (#litres_trial_promo)
WILD ABOUT WILD DOGS (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1: Teamwork (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 2: Keeping Up! (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 3: Picture Perfect (#litres_trial_promo)
CRUNCH TIME (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1: Tagging Along With Rhinos (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 2: Time-Out With Tigers (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 3: Chilling With Cheetahs (#litres_trial_promo)
DON’T MISS! (#litres_trial_promo)
More Information (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)
Credits (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)
That’s me, Boris Diaw. Two of my favorite things are playing hoops and taking photos of wild animals. I photographed these hippos when I was in Africa on safari, a special trip to see wildlife.
I loved watching this little lion cub lounge on a termite mound.
Hi, my name is Boris Diaw (sounds like DEE-ow). I’m a professional basketball player. I play for the National Basketball Association, or NBA, for short. I play all over the United States. I also play in Europe.
I have played hoops my whole life. I grew up in a small town named Bordeaux (sounds like bore-DOH) in southwest France. My mom was a pro basketball player, too. She used to shoot hoops with me. The game was her passion. Now it’s mine, too.
I love how basketball is a team sport. There’s a lot of spirit in it. Everyone on a team must work together. It’s like a pride of lions or a pack of African wild dogs.
Animals are another passion of mine. I love spending time outdoors and taking pictures of wild animals. I have taken photographs of wildlife in South Africa, Botswana (sounds like bot-SWAN-uh), Tanzania (sounds like tan-zan-EE-yuh), and India. I’ve watched hungry lions eat. I’ve tracked a tigress with her cubs. I have photographed colorful birds, rugged rhinos, and lounging leopards. When I’m at home in San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A., my photos remind me of the peace I feel in the wild.
I started taking pictures of wildlife when I was seven years old. I was on a trip with my mom and my brother, Martin. We had gone to Senegal (sounds like sen-ih-GAWL) to visit my father. Senegal is a small country on the west coast of Africa. My dad still lives there today, in a city named Dakar (sounds like dah-CAR).
Martin and I had never been to Africa before. It was a big adventure for us. Dakar was very different from where we lived. The city smelled musty. The food tasted spicy.
During the trip, I got a disposable camera. I liked taking pictures of Dakar and all the people around me. But what I really wanted to see and photograph were wild animals.
Many wildlife lovers on safari hope to see lions. Trackers help find lions by looking for clues in the bush. They look for paw prints or signs of a kill, such as an animal’s hide on the ground or bones. They listen for the roar of lions and calls of alarm from animals that lions like to eat. They sniff the air for the sharp smell of lion scat, or poop. Following clues from the bush just might lead to an awesome encounter with a big cat—just don’t get too close!
I was excited when we went to camp in the Niokolo-Koba (sounds like NYUH-koh-loh KOH-ba) National Park. My dad told us we’d see wild animals there. It felt like the longest drive ever—eight hours! As we drove deeper into Africa, it got hotter. We weren’t far from the Sahara. It was hotter than any place I knew. There were also lots of big, biting flies.
At the wildlife park, we saw hippos, monkeys, and antelope. We saw zebras and giraffes, too. I watched warthogs and their babies. They trotted around with tails held high. We watched and listened to birds, such as parrots and bee-eaters.
Wild animals here seemed different from the animals I loved watching at the zoo in France. In the Niokolo-Koba, I realized that wild animals have lives even when people aren’t watching.
Did You Know?
When it walks, a lion leaves paw prints as long as five inches (13 cm)! Each print has four toe indents, but no claw marks.
One night at the park, I started wondering what animals might be watching me. We were staying in little huts with folding beds, but no doors. Earlier that day, I had heard someone say they had spotted fresh lion tracks. What if a lion looked into our hut? I thought. What if it sneaks in? The idea scared me, but I was excited, too! I kept my eyes open—and my camera ready.
I never did see a lion on that trip. Too soon, we went back to Dakar, back to people and cars and noise. Then my mom, brother, and I flew home to France. But I wanted to go back into the wild. I loved looking at the pictures I took on my trip.
At home, I got back to basketball. I loved it so much, I played all day, every day. I still loved to explore nature, too. Every summer I spent three weeks camping. I built tree houses. I liked being away from the city. I liked hearing only the sounds of wildlife. It reminded me of the wildlife park in Senegal.
When I was a teenager, I went to a boarding school in Paris. Many serious basketball players go to high school there. My life was all about basketball. After high school, I played for a pro basketball club in France for three years. Then in 2003, I got drafted into the NBA and moved to the United States.
While riding in the safari vehicle, we all looked and listened for wild animals. One day, I snapped this shot of a young elephant chasing a baby giraffe.
After my rookie, or first, year in the NBA, I finally had time to go back to Senegal. I called Martin, and we organized a trip to visit family. I bought a camera at the airport in Paris. It made me think of the camera I had when I was seven. Just like then, I wanted to remember what I did and saw on my trip.
I took pictures of people in Dakar while they waited for buses or crossed the street. The city was so colorful. The wild areas we visited were colorful, too. One day, we visited a place called Lake Retba (sounds like ret-BAH), which is known as the “pink lake.” A special bacteria (sounds like back-TEER-ee-uh) growing in the water turns it pink. I took pictures of the lake and the birds. I had fun figuring out how my new camera worked.
A year later, after another season playing in the NBA, I returned to Africa again. But this time, I went to the country of South Africa. I planned to go on a true safari. I wanted to watch wild predators (sounds like PRED-uh-ters) hunt in their natural habitat. I bought better camera equipment. And I invited my mom to join me.
We went to Kruger National Park. When we got there, the thing that struck me was the peace. No noise, no cars, no nothing. My phone didn’t work. I couldn’t even get text messages. That was a good thing! It felt like those days as a kid, when I used to go camping.
I usually love to sleep late in the morning. But I was excited about heading out on our morning game drives before dawn. “Game” are the animals you see while driving around a huge park like this one. Our first morning, we drove through the bush in the dark. We rode in a vehicle without a roof or sides. It easily went through tall grass and bushes, and even over small trees. Sticky spiderwebs stuck to my face as we rode along. Branches scraped our arms. We could hear birds squawking and insects buzzing. It was great.
The tracker—the person who looks and listens for signs of animals—sat in a special chair on the hood of the vehicle. He scanned the darkness with a bright light. He kept an eye on the dirt road for tracks. He sniffed the air for fresh poop. I wondered what animals we would see.
The tracker also listened for clues, such as the alarm calls that baboons make when big predators are near. We saw a hyena (sounds like hi-EE-nuh) running along the road. It turned and looked at us with glowing yellow eyes.
