More Safari...

Micah had the opportunity to go Cape Buffalo hunting in the swaps and crocodile hunting in the croc infested waters of the Zambezi River. I did not get to go on the buffalo hunt because it was way to intense for girls apparently...after hearing all the stories of trudging the swamps for miles, I was glad I hung out with the girls instead. I did however, get to come on his crocodile hunt...it was AWESOME.

Honestly, I was just excited to see the Zambezi, much less go croc hunting on it! It is one of the longest rivers in Africa and actually empties into the Indian Ocean. It was HUGE and absolutely beautiful.

Don't be fooled though, this river is VERY dangerous. Many people are killed by crocs every year. Mostly natives who are too close to the edge while washing clothes or bathing. It is really sad. In fact, one actually got killed while we were there. I didn't actually see it, but some in our group saw the native in floating in the water. Obviously, I was a bit apprehensive, but once I realized they weren't going to crawl in our boat, I was ok.

Croc hunting is really fun. We cruised around in our boat until we found areas with lots of sand banks in the middle of the river. Then we would slow down looking for crocs. We were looking for crocs under 10 foot. Much bigger than that, and you can't really do anything with the skin because it's too thick. Once we spotted one, we had to find a sand back close enough that we could get to and shoot from. If were lucky enough to find a sand bank to shoot from, we had to sneak up to it in the boat without scaring the croc off. This happened several times.

When we finally made it to our sand bank, Micah, LJ and our videographer belly crawled through reeds to get a good shot. I stayed behind with Pete, the camp pilot who had joined us, on the other side of the sand bank. This kinda freaked me out because I couldn't see what was going on, but with so many people, we risked scary away the croc.

They were over there forever, and I was getting a bit antsy when I heard three shots. Pete told me that was a good sign. I was pretty stoked when I saw LJ running toward us to bring the boat around.

Apparently, the croc did hear them and slid off into the water. However, crocodiles are very territorial and like to hang out where they have claimed their territory. They waited and waited until the croc decided it was ok to reclaim his sunbathing spot. Once he did, the rest was history!

The Zambezi is overflowing with these deadly crocs. This is a great way to help regulate the population. The natives are especially always appreciative of these kills, since so many loose family and friends to the beasts!

This was one of the coolest things I have ever done!


The Buffalo Hunt...



The Zambezi Crocodile Hunt...