Day 39 – Crocodile Roll & Snakes

Most of us went for an early bush run of around 12k. I am sure it would have been an unusual sighting in the park with armed landrovers front and back and 8 joggers in the middle.

We finished close to a river system that is fast drying up and was teeming with birds and wildlife. Whilst indulging in a rather nice bush breakfast that the guys at the lodge had set up a fight broke out in the local pool. Three large crocs were clearly tussling over a carcass, their heads were all out of the water when one of them rolled a couple of times and held a rather large drumstick aloft. A great sighting.

Then back for showers and lunch. There is never a quiet day in the bush. My water arrived for the outdoor shower when the girl with the bucket shouted. There on the side of the tent by the shower was a 2 metre bright green Boomslang snake. They are very poisonous. Haemotoxic. Antivenom and multiple blood transfusions required.

The boomslang snake was on the inner tent roof, hanging over the edge. The locals do not like snakes!!

A man with a snakecatcher arrived…a long stick with grabbers on the end…caught it near the head and headed off into the bush.

And all this before lunch!!

And then lunch and a siesta…except as I pulled back the mosquito net I saw a snake disappearing under the pillow. And off we went again!! This time a green spotted bush snake.

Time for a nap!!

And final chapter.

For the afternoon we walked along a dry riverbed….it had dried up in late August. There were a number of dead animals around that had been finished off by lack of water and food. Also you could see big holes in the dried up bank which were normally a couple of metres under water. They were crocodile lairs…spooky. There was a particularly large one with some markings outside. For some reason I peered in. It was inky black. I then tried with binoculars but same again until I realised that it was long focussed. So I twiddled with the focus knob and a row of enormous white teeth came into focus together with an amber eye. It was a huge crocodile still holed up in its lair and we were just 2 metres away! He was kilometres away from water but patiently awaiting the rains. And he was a very large croc….15 feet maybe. Thank goodness he didn’t come charging out. Sam took a flash photo and we retreated carefully. Quite an extraordinary experience to be so close to the worlds oldest predator…the croc predates the dinosaurs. J