So... "Croc Camp" .... "Band Camp" but with teeth you ask ??? I don't think so.
The Nile Crocodile (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_crocodile) is a little different than the local variety found here in Australia (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltwater_crocodile) but not too much. I note from the Wiki entry (yes taken with a grain of salt) that the Aussie version gets larger and seems more aggressive (true of the average Australian man I would suggest as well...
). In reality I think the differences on these points are mostly academic. If either decides you are lunch you are lunch. I DO think much more is made of Croc attacks here in Aus than they are in Africa (in fact I am positive of this !!!! ) and in fact MANY more people are taken (even per capita) than here. This is a factor of the living arrangements and how the populations of Croc and Human are stacked upon each other all across Africa. One big difference between the two, I CAN legally hunt the Nile Croc...
So the Croc Camp backs onto the Zambezi River up in the mid north of Mozambique. Puttering along the river (in a boat that seemed entire too small to me
) we ended up around 10km from the Malawi border. If I was Madonna I would have nipped up and acquired another child...but I am not.
The morning started with watching the sun come up across the river...
And my first look at my "Ship" for this part of the trip...
Camp here, was comfortable but a little louder than at other locations as there is a small village just outside the boundary fence of the camp.
A fire pit and deck of course...
Croc hunting is accomplished two fold, figure out where the big lizard is frequenting on shore (they, like the Aussie version are VERY territorial) to sun themselves, set up over these spots and wait and the other, find the big lizard and stalk in close enough to shoot. I got to experience both and both have their challenges.
On shooting a croc. There are three generally accepted spot to hit them. Forward of the shoulder, where the spine and head meet (found by following "the smile" back and aiming there) OR striking the brain, to do so you have an area a little larger than and egg to hit in the area just behind the eye. The reality is that if you want to ground the lizard right there and not risk it kicking its way back into the water (and generally being lost) it is the third and hardest option that is required. On trophy fees.... a shot and a miss can cost you the fee (at the discretion of the PH, if he even suspects a wound you will pay), a wounding costs you, a kill but a lost body costs you. The fee is US$3K so there is some small amount of pressure around the shooting part...
Croc hunting hours are however VERY civil, they don't come out of the water till the outside temps rise and the sand etc warms up. So no crack of dawn starts ...
The first avenue we tried was some local knowledge about where a large croc was appearing. It was a good hour upstream from camp...
Our Captain...
Obano....yes, (seeing as he was our tracker) I did at one point ask him if he "had seen any croc tracks yet" as we motored upstream.... I think he was being polite by not answering to start with till he figured out it was humour...
Typical view as we motored around the river. These are actually sandbars that are mid river... just when you think you are "on the other side" (as the sandbar with plant life and such is a couple of KM long) you realise you are no more than the middle !!!
The other significant in habitant of the Zambezi is the Hippo.... and there were lots of them !!!
Where a croc is going in and out of the water is what you are trying to figure... of course till you scurry up there you don't know which it was nor where they are !!!
A little lizard...
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 !!!!! ) ...
.
It was then back in the boat and further downriver....we were now well below our camp. We came down and to a looooong and bare sandbar that, earlier in the day was well underwater. With some great luck and no skill or forethought...we decided to put in and have a walk around on it. Boet also suggested we take a "Great White Hunter" pic or two. On this, understand that I don't at all take myself very seriously and tend to have a good deal of fun with most subjects... 
