Crocodile and Baboon
19th October 2009
A few years ago in the Luangwa, i was sitting on the deck at Mfuwe lodge observing some lions across the other side of the drying lagoon. About 100 metres to the right of the lions there was some movement up on the bank. After a few minutes a crocodile appeared out of the bush with something secured in its mouth. It must have been approx 200 metres away so i couldnt make out what it was at first. It was making a b-line straight for the last pool of water in the lagoon.
Inorder to get some shots of it and its kill i went down into the lagoon and started crawling along on my belly. I positioned myself infront of the croc approximately where i thought it would enter the water and waited.
Crocodiles, although being immensely strong animals, do tire quicly as a result of lactic acid build up in their muscle tissue. So they have poor stamina and are limited to short bursts of activity. As a result it was walking 10 metres then resting for a minute and it continued like this for sometime.
Eventualy it got closer and i was able to make out it had a baboon in its mouth. The baboon looked a good few days dead and smelled quite ripe when it got closer. The baboon was probably killed by a leopard and then half eaten and subsequently left. crocodiles have fantastic senses, their sense of smell is particularly good and so it probably smelt the rotting baboon carcass quite some distance away and during the night exited the lagoon to look for the possible meal.
When the croc approached to within 30 metres it noticed me and then slightly changed it angle towards the lagoon inorder to keep its distance from me. It obviously viewed me as a threat to its hard won meal. Eventualy when it was 5 metres from the edge of the pool of water it put on an incredible burst of speed and entered with its tail thrashing.
Inorder to get some shots of it and its kill i went down into the lagoon and started crawling along on my belly. I positioned myself infront of the croc approximately where i thought it would enter the water and waited.
Crocodiles, although being immensely strong animals, do tire quicly as a result of lactic acid build up in their muscle tissue. So they have poor stamina and are limited to short bursts of activity. As a result it was walking 10 metres then resting for a minute and it continued like this for sometime.
Eventualy it got closer and i was able to make out it had a baboon in its mouth. The baboon looked a good few days dead and smelled quite ripe when it got closer. The baboon was probably killed by a leopard and then half eaten and subsequently left. crocodiles have fantastic senses, their sense of smell is particularly good and so it probably smelt the rotting baboon carcass quite some distance away and during the night exited the lagoon to look for the possible meal.
When the croc approached to within 30 metres it noticed me and then slightly changed it angle towards the lagoon inorder to keep its distance from me. It obviously viewed me as a threat to its hard won meal. Eventualy when it was 5 metres from the edge of the pool of water it put on an incredible burst of speed and entered with its tail thrashing.
