Yesterday, I showed you the building of the blind for crocodile watching, so let’s start the story from there!!
As we arrived at the lake shore and started unloading all of our equipment, we were wondering exactly how the 4 of us (Michael, myself, our guide Dylan, and our tracker, Albino) were going to get it all to the boats and to the island.
We needn’t have worried!!
As if on cue, a HOST of kids arrived with arms ready to carry whatever we needed!!
When we arrived on the island, the bait was put into the water and we settled into our “home” for the next few hours….
About 30 minutes later, a small Crocodile appeared, grabbed the bait, and started splashing around.
Dylan had told us that, if one Croc starts splashing, then all of the others will come running to see what is up.
Sure enough, almost immediately, we started seeing Crocs in the water, heading our direction….
In this photo, you can see the three “lines” in the water toward the left. Those are three Crocs heading in!!
I was reminded of looking at the ocean from an airplane and seeing the “lines” in the water from the ocean liners. As over 40 animals descended on our island, Michael said that it looked like the storming of the beaches at Normandy!
Here is a super quick video of a small portion of the feeding frenzy….
At one point, I counted 9 crocs on one little spit of land in the lake…..
We spent two days sitting in the blind and then took to an aluminum boat on the 3rd day, with plans to cruise the shore and look for other animals in the area.
And, man did we see Crocodiles, including this BIG BOY…..
One of the cooler things about traveling in the motor boat was being able to move quickly across the lake and get closer to other animals along the way.
It was fun to see these mostly submerged hippos, especially with the people on the shore behind them.
I fell in love with this pod of Hippos……
It was such fun to hear them calling and making their laughing sound. I also enjoyed watching these two slip into the water and simply disappear….
It was interesting that the crocs and hippos apparently had a truce and were living together well….
Other “non-lethal” sights on the lake included these two fisherman throwing out their nets…..
… these Egyptian Geese…
….cormorants…..
….and a “Goliath Heron”……
These birds can be 6 feet tall, although this guy was an immature bird and probably only 4 feet tall.
My favorite animal spotting on the lake were these 4 elephants heading down the slope to drink from the lake….
This was the first one that I saw…..
…and it was such a thrill to my heart!!
I had previously seen all of these three big animals from a helicopter, but never on the ground!
I was SUPER excited!!
Tomorrow we will spend some time traveling the rural roads and visiting in some villages. Be sure to come back.
Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!
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