"I'm flying 18.5 hours to see Moo Deng!" — Woman travels from the US to Thailand just to see internet's most beloved cute baby hippo

THAILAND: When New Yorker Molly Swindall first saw baby Pygmy hippopotamus Moo Deng on social media, she just knew she had to meet the hippo in real life. Moo Deng is now an internet sensation, and the hippo became famous when her caretakers at the Khao Kheow Zoo started posting her antics online. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCM7utGdoxo She also became the subject of a skit on Saturday Night Live recently. https://youtu.be/vfIbbP3vuwA?si=ChfH0DD2BCcUZNQH When asked what made Swindall travel across the globe just to see the hippo, she told CNN, "I thought she was absolutely hysterical and had a lot of fun energy. She’s just a little bright spot in the world at the moment when there are so many things going on… Her rosy little cheeks, she’s precious. I just love animals, and I love adventure, so I made it a goal to go.

Molly Swindall traveled over 8,000 miles to Thailand just to see Moo Deng, a cute baby hippo that the internet has fallen for. https://t.co/h1Ky6bBzIb

— Green Bay Press-Gazette (@gbpressgazette) October 3, 2024 My dad passed away kind of unexpectedly six years ago, and at that point, I was just like, ‘You know what? I’m always going to live my life to the fullest. I’m always going to have a sense of adventure.’ And that’s why I decided to do what I did." On the suddenness of her decision, she said she wanted to see her while she still had the spunk and energy that comes with youth. Since she could only get a couple of days off work, she spent only 30 hours in Thailand, flying out of New York through London on Tuesday and then returning via an overnight stop in Amsterdam on Friday.

Economical trip

Swindall said that although her trip was short, it was worth it. Also, it only cost her somewhere between $1,000 and $1,100. “I have a lot of points and miles from old, past jobs. So I was able to go pretty inexpensively, and I also got some discounts on travel,” she said. Swindall’s first TikTok video of her trip to visit Moo Deng has been trending and has been watched more than 1.9 million times so far. Her video invites her followers to “fly 18.5 hours with me to Thailand to see Moo Deng.” https://www.tiktok.com/@1989vinyl/video/7420981980088519978 On her arrival in Bangkok, she hired a driver to take her to the zoo, where she watched Moo Deng hiding from the rain and running around after her meal. https://www.tiktok.com/@1989vinyl/video/7421116950094302510 “She’s so cute and fun, you can’t not love her. I have a new love just for the species as a whole because Moo Deng’s mom was just as amazing, and I hope she starts to get more love as well,” said Swindall.

Fans everywhere

Swindall has made 15 TikTok videos about Moo Deng and said that people worldwide have been enthusiastic about the animal. “I love to tell stories, and I love to bring people along on adventures, and I love to entertain. So it’s been really magical that people have been having such a good time with it as well. It’s been very, very fun to be able to connect with all these different people over it.” Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)