Another "Puddle Pig" ...





Soooooo.... after the motoring and taking in the sights we got up to the area where a croc of some size was suppose to be frequenting. On the trip up we saw a few but nothing of size. On size...I didn't just want to "shoot a croc" I wanted a larger croc (must be the Australian in me ). On this river 11- 12 feet are considered trophies, over 12 to 13 are something !! I really did want to find something around the 12 or so foot mark (as a minimum), but hunting is just that, not to order, you just need to keep working at it and hope a little luck comes you way as well.

Getting ashore is fun as you are not just running up on the sand, that's because they us generally where the big lizards bask and "one does not wish to bother them" (apply English accent here). So "The Captain" runs the boat nose first into the reeds or against an almost vertical shore and you scramble up, then pass up your gear.

Once on the sandbar or shore you go find a spot that gives you a view of where it is you want to watch, that is done by working a combination of clearings and "hippo tunnels", the name was lost on me for a little, through the vegetation.... then you wait.

Working through one of the tunnels...



... I chose the hands and knees method of movement but each works...

Sooooo....what now.... well YOU WAIT and hope for the big lizard to decide to come and take a little sun on the sand (Mankini optional) !!!! In this case, well over an hour before anything at all happened.

A note on crocs... I have been around the Saltwater variety a little in my life, enough to respect them greatly but also to have an understanding of getting a bit close to them. The Aussie version is MUCH easier to get close to. I am sure that is a factor of no hunting pressure and far fewer people in their environment. I was to discover that the Nile Croc (in this area at least) was very very attuned to threats and were off back into the water ASAP...!!!!! Better to find this out early !!

Soooo after about an hour the resident lizard showed up....and it was in fact a good sized crocodile....



... but after some looking and looking I (and taking Boet's advice !!) decided it was not big enough for me. Probably in the order of 11-12 feet but it is hard to gauge till you are close and with a tape in hand !!

Once I had decided that this one was not a shooter I thought I will move in and get some better pictures... this is when the difficulty of hunting them struck home. I am not sure what it was, wind, noise, a glimpse (I doubt the later as I was on all fours in the reeds) but I got not further than 10yds closer than the pic I took above and the mouth slowly closed (not startled response, very considered) and the big thing gently slid back into the water and almost vanished !!!!



In hindsight it may NOT have been me that caused the issue but I think it was, that said this guy....



...was in the water not 20yds from that sand. Now remember when I said I was in a "Hippo Tunnel".... the reality of this then dawned on me.....!!!! It IS a tunnel that hippos make and use regularly !!!!!!!!!! .

OK... back to the boat (there was a famous line from the movie Apocalypse Now playing over and over in my head the whole time I was out on the river BTW !!!!! ) ... .
Anyway.... with that avenue not working we decided to head back downriver to another large sandbar that is frequented by crocs. One issue we were facing in the morning was that the river was up (it regularly rises and falls during the course of the day depending on what is happening upriver (which may be all the way up and almost into The Congo) so the amount of rise/fall is a bit unpredictable. As we headed upstream a number of the areas the big lizards like to bask on where underwater. On the return journey the river had dropped and more places were appearing !!!

Our first stop was a big overgrown sandbar that is split by a small channel. Apparently crocs like to move into this channel and bask on small sand patches. We put the boat in and started a careful walk toward the channel... the closer we got the thicker the growth till it was back down onto hands and knees in a "Hippo Tunnel" the reality of this situation also was driven home as I had to skirt a fresh and still steaming Hippo Turd !!!!!! The same tunnels are used by crocs to get further into the sandbars !!!! We slowed where the tunnel opened onto the channel and started to look around, yes there were indeed Crocs here, big enough to eat you but still not large enough to take (well not for me - still Australian after all). We eased back out and around to the boat and commenced motoring downstream.

The picture below is of the sandbar described above. You can see a good sized Croc laying there catching some rays. That spot he/she is laying in where the channel through the sandbar enters, this Croc is one of the ones we were looking over...



And just a little further downstream was another lizard taking in the sun...