Beshte (The Lion Guard)

"Twende Kiboko"

- Beshte's Catchphrase

Beshte is the son of Basi and an unknown male hippopotamus and is one of the main characters in the 2015 TV film The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar and it's 2016 series The Lion Guard, based on the 1994 film The Lion King. He is a hippopotamus who along with his friends Kion, Bunga, Fuli and Ono form The Lion Guard to protect The Pride Lands from threats such as hyenas.

He is voiced by Dusan Brown

The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar
When Bunga and Kion race through the Pride Lands playing Baobab Ball, they encounter Beshte, who greets them warmly.

Later, after Kion learns that he is to lead the Lion Guard, he appoints Beshte, Fuli, and Ono to positions on the Guard. He gathers the team together and attempts to show them the Roar of the Elders, but all that comes out is a squeak. Just then, Kion's father Simba arrives and reacts in horror to Kion's choice of teammates. He insists that the Guard must be made of lions only and then berates Kion for treating his role as leader like a game.

Not long after this, the team learns that the hyenas are attacking a herd of gazelles. With no time to lose, Kion assembles the Lion Guard, using his paw to gift each of them with a special shoulder marking.

Together, the five friends attack the hyenas, driving them back into the Outlands. Kion finishes the fight with the powerful Roar of the Elders, and even Janja flees in terror. Simba happens to be watching from a nearby ridge and realizes that his son was wise to have chosen who he chose. He congratulates his son on the victory and accepts this new, brilliant assembling of loyal animals.

The Lion Guard
Set after the film, Beshte continues to serve in The Lion Guard alongside Kion, Bunga, Fuli and Ono and continues battling Janja and his clan, though also comes up against other villainous animals too, such as the new crocodile leader Makuu (until he reformed), a pack of jackals led by Reirei and most recently, the spirit of Kion's great-uncle Scar (who was the leader of the previous Lion Guard, whom he killed with the Roar of the Elders after they refused to help him overthrow Mufasa).

In the episode "Follow That Hippo!", Beshte and the rest of the Guard meet a group of young animals playing Lion Guard. Beshte befriends one of the animals, an elephant calf named Mtoto (who idolises Beshte) and later saves him from Janja's clan.

In the episode "The Imaginary Okapi", Beshte meets and befriends a okapi named Ajabu, who has traveled to the Pride Lands to escape a leopard named Makucha. However, Makucha has followed Ajabu and refuses to stop as okapis are rare. Luckily, Beshte and the rest of the Guard are able to see off Makucha and later play hide and seek with Ajabu after he is allowed to stay in the Pride Lands by Simba and Nala.

Songs Performed By Beshte

 * "The Hero Inside"
 * "Hakuna Matata"
 * "Life In The Pridelands"
 * "Stand Up, Stand Out"
 * "Makin" Hippo Lanes"

Similar Heroes

 * Pat (Pat and Stan)
 * Spike (The Land Before Time)
 * Dash (The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea)