The main attraction at a new amusement park in centralColombia is a family of hippopotamuses, originally imported from Africa. Theirhome is not a zoo or Wildlife Park, but the former estate of one of the world'smost notorious drug lords. VOA's Brian Wagner has this report from Medellin,Colombia.

Hacienda Napoles animal habitat and theme park

The namePablo Escobar no longer strikes fear in the residents of Medellin. TheColombian city has moved on since 1993 when Colombian police killed the manwhose powerful Medellin drug cartel was responsible for murder and mayhem.

He leftbehind a vast compound called HaciendaNapoles, a few hours outside Medellin.

The druglord commissioned a bull fighting ring, wild Animal Park and huge dinosaurmodels to entertain guests at his ranch.

Last year,local investors rebuilt many of the original features at Hacienda Napoles andopened a theme park.

Visitorscan see what remains of Escobar's house. After his death, the estate was miredin legal claims. It fell into neglect. Vandals stripped the house of anythingof value.

A few signsdescribe Escobar's history of violence and cocaine trafficking, which at itspeak in the late 1980s is said to have generated $30 billion a year.

Some of themoney went for lavish purchases, such as three African hippos. They now live on a lagoon on the property.

SandraOcampo is a park worker at the Hacienda Napoles. She says the animals havethrived far from their native habitat, even with little human help. "For17 years no one here fed them, but they managed to survive on the naturalvegetation. Now they are the main attraction here at the park, because this isone of few places where they have bred in a natural habitat," she said.

Water loving Hippos reside in the Hacienda Napoles animal habitat and theme park

Theoriginal three hippos reproduced and there are now 22 of the huge, water-lovinganimals in Hacienda Napoles.

One of themost recent additions is Vanessa, a 14-month-old female which is receivingspecial treatment from park employees. Because Vanessa lives in a separate area, park employees say she isunknown to the rest of the herd. 

A parkemployee says, "Each day Vanessa receives 12 liters of a special milkformula, as well as grass, carrots and salt. She cannot visit the big lagoon,otherwise the other hippos might kill her because she does not belong to theirgroup," the employee said.

Therelative freedom and space given to the hippos at Hacienda Napoles is rareamong man-made animal parks. Miami Metrozoo, for example, houses only the pygmyhippo largely because its needs are much less than than those of its largercousin.

Ron Magillis communications director for Miami Metrozoo. "Whenyou keep them in captivity at least in a U.S. zoo, they have to be kept with afiltration system that needs a lot of maintenance and costs a lot of money,"Magill said. "Keeping them otherwise, you need a large piece of property, andif you are going to keep them in some natural swamp area, you need to havewater running through it."

But even atHacienda Napoles, space is running out for the hippos, as the hippos continueto reproduce. "Someof the hippos have been taken to zoos. A couple disappeared up the river whenthey were forced out by the lead male, and a few have died. Most of those whohave died were killed by the lead male," Ocampo said.

Thattendency toward violence is a characteristic the hippos share with their notoriousformer owner, Pablo Escobar.