Zee, yes, I was quite surprised myself at the size of some of those crocs in Mazvikadae. I have also been surprised at how crocs find their way into farm dams (when there used to be farms) in Zim. Even just outside Harare, you could find the odd croc in a small farm dam, from a minute little river.

Crocs have always freaked me out a bit though, I was stalked by a big one at the Vic Falls croc farm, and he was actually waiting for me, as he went into the water, dissappeared, then surfaced slowly just in front of the fence(but not completely, just to see where I was), and then sank down again and waited for me to come close to the water's edge, which I obviously did not do!). I was also stalked apparently by a large dominant male croc, whilst inside a makoro with my guide when fishing for barbel in the Okavango delta. The scary thing was, I never even saw the croc, luckily the guide saw it and was very scared, so we set off from the area (I did not want to stay either). He recognized the croc as being the dominant one in the area in size and reputation. One of the guides from that very camp was knocked out of a makoro and eaten a few years before in the same area! It could very well have been the same croc!

Kariba is not short of large crocs, I think the bigger ones are usually found a bit along the more remote areas, especially up smaller rivers, like the Sengwa, Ume, Naodza, Sanyati, Gach Gache, where there I would think that there are always lots of fish, and where animals are maybe more likely to drink, etc. Above Vic Falls I believe they tried to dart an immense croc some many years ago, which was probably around 18 foot, for research, but it unfortunately drowned after it was darted and I do not think it was ever recovered. I can imagine Cahora Basa being a hot-spot for big crocs.

Here is my big lizard...

Mike

Hi there, in case anyone wants to read an exciting book on croc-hunting, that book I was thinking of was called 'Crocodile Fever'. Author was Lawrence Earl, and was about the experiences of croc hunter Bryan Herbert Dempster.