Here's a photo of a crocodile I shot in Zimbabwe last month.



We used the ribcage of a hippo I'd shot the previous day as bait, then built a blind about 60 yards away on the flood plain of Lake Kariba. When we crawled into the blind, we could see about 20 crocs at the bait. After waiting some time for this one to get into the right position, I shot him.

After skinning him, we opened his belly to see if there was anything interesting inside. Among pieces of turtle shell, the usual stones and a leg of impala, we found three lion claws:



Interesting souvenir from a croc hunt. That must have been an amazing fight...

WOW... I wonder if he took the whole foot? Though it could have been a dead lion already?

Now that is what I call a souvenir from a hunt...Mike

"the usual stones" Are these for digestion, like a chicken swallowing grit? Or are they accidentally ingested along with fish etc?

They sometimes swallow stones to assist in regulating buoyancy underwater although a fair amount do get swallowed during feeding frenzies, etc.

The stones are used to help grind up food.

Certainly gets the imagination fired up, doesn't it?

David:

It warmed my heart to see your dead croc. In a month in Africa some years ago I worked up a real hatred of crocs. (similar to my hatred of snakes) My outfitter was a European Italian who had been living in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia for the better part of 40 years. He was licensed as a PH in Zim, Tanzania and Zambia and had quite a reputation as a "lion man" and was often called on by the Zim Dept of Parks and Game to deal with "problem"lions, (often poor beasts that had run afoul of a local's wire snare and now were wearing wire around a leg and had to be tracked down and shot) One evening while shooting the breeze, when I expressed real dislike of crocs, he remarked that if he could legally do so, he would happily sit on a river bank and shoot crocs until the rifle barrel melted. It made me feel better. Claudio would have hailed your shooting a croc that had lion claws in his belly.

David,

I have heard of lions swimming across the islands in Lake Kariba.

I am sure a lion would not stand a chance if he was in the water and get attacked by a big croc.

No way a lion can survive in the wild with a missing foot.

NEAT!

Saeed:

It was interesting to read your post that lions swam between islands in Lake Kariba. Why would lions be on islands to begin with - or are these very large islands? (I know Lake Kariba is big from seeing a map but I never was there so I don't know anything about the area) I always thought a lion was a pretty clever beast. What would drive him to go swimming with crocs?

I really am interested. (It's fascinating to think of the images in my mind of a lion swimming at all and just picturing a lion in a fight in the water with a croc) Hope you'll comment. (BTW, it just occurred to me that the croc probably had eaten a lion and that the claws simply were indigestible)

David,
Congratulations on your successful hunt and also having your lion hunting story published in S.C.I. We hunted crocodlie on Lake Kariba in August 2003. My husband and a friend each got one. The lake is loaded with them. Brent Hein is a great P.H. We first met Brent while lion hunting in Chirisa. Brent has "volunteered" to be a P.H. for one of our party members when we return to Zim in Sept. 2005. Did you have Mark as your boat driver? The S.C.I. article did not have any photos of your lion. Please post a few when you have time. Once again congratulations on your successful hunt.

Kathi

kathi@wldtravel.com

There are prides of lions at Lake Kariba that specialise in hunting and killing crocodiles.

Maybe it was a crocs turn that time.

Likewise on Lake Turkana, lions eat crocs with some regularity. Other game is scarce in that area.

Some good lion fodder

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/brittoncrocs/images/!cpor5.jpg



Mike

Yes I think with the instance of lions eating crocs certain guidelines apply...to do with size and numbers.Like when we say 'hungry lions may be forced to eat elephant'.

A big croc weighs as much as a pride of lions combined.





Karl.

Saeed,

I've heard the same things about lions swimming to the islands in Lake Kariba, paricularly across the narrow gorge to Chete Island. In fact, we thought that was what the lion I shot at Chete had done, until he magically reappeared in the area and we were able to track him.

Kathi,

I enjoy hunting with Brent tremendously. We didn't use a boat on this hunt. We built a blind on the flood plain, using a hippo carcass as bait. Downside is we had to belly crawl about 250 yards to get into the blind without alerting the crocs and the birds at the bait. Considering our approach, slithering along on our bellies with bleeding elbows and sweat pouring off us, I had to whisper to Brent, "Who are the croccdiles here?" There is a picture of my lion in the Nickudu Africa Files.

Hard to say how the croc ate the lion, but the PH guessed that we would have found more claws in the bellies of the other crocodiles present at our bait. Interestingly, this week I saw an episode of the new Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, where they compared the crocodile with the hippo as king of the water in Africa. One segment showed several crocs harrassing a pride of lions on a kill the lions had made close to the water on the Luangwa River in Zambia. The contest was a draw, as the lions carried off their kill to higher ground, but perhaps the lion in my croc's belly wasn't as lucky in similar circumstances.