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When some people see David\u2019s image of the crocodile inches behind me, their reactions include wonder, awe, anger, horror and \u201cHow could he?!\u201d \u2014 how could her husband take a picture and not save her? My answer is this: David gave the appropriate warning and quickly swam to me. I was a visitor in this creature\u2019s environment, and in this circumstance there were more knowns than unknowns, so I did not feel threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Les crocodiles am\u00e9ricains r\u00e9sidents (Crocodylus acutus<\/em>) at Jardines de la Reina routinely share their waters with snorkelers and divers. I was fortunate to have an encounter with this symbol of an intact ecosystem that supports apex predators, and the image is an opportunity to discuss marine conservation. As journalists, we are careful never to suggest crocodiles are safe to swim with or let our images appear with sensational headlines that promote fear and loathing of marine life \u2014 and we have had many such requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Je n'ai pas ressenti le m\u00eame confort en travaillant sur le crocodile du Nil (Crocodylus niloticus<\/em>) waters in Botswana\u2019s Okavango Delta a decade earlier for a story called \u201cMiracle Delta.\u201d The story idea developed over a scotch in Washington when fellow wildlife photographer Frans Lanting remarked, \u201cThere is clear water for one month in the Okavango, and no one has looked closely beneath the surface there.\u201d With unexplored places, there is always a reason why. In this case, there were two reasons: hippos and Nile crocodiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were diving at Okavango Panhandle with our guides, Brad Bestelink and Andy Crawford, who taught us that large crocs sense your vibrations in the water and move in, hoping to find a new wildlife crossing. Keeping this in mind, we never dived the same place twice and never stayed for more than two hours. While we were photographing in a lily and papyrus garden that looked from below like a Monet painting, Brad signaled that our time was up. David responded with the familiar photographer\u2019s plea for a little more time, just one more shot. Brad steeled his voice and said, \u201cOut means out, David.\u201d We pouted and moved well downstream to another spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hours later, David asked to go back to the magical place for a night shot. Brad agreed, and we boated through the dark with spotlights on the bow. As we turned the bend, I exclaimed, \u201cHoly hippo!\u201d A giant hippo stood right where we had been working. Brad handed me his light, and we were astonished to see that the large figure was no hippo. A Nile crocodile more than 14 feet long had claimed the spot where we wanted to jump in. It was a very quiet ride back to the dock. Back in our lean-to, I not-so-calmly asked David, \u201cWhat are we doing here? What were we thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fast forward a few weeks, and we were armed with growing confidence, a local Shaman ceremony (for men only) to protect David from crocodiles and what must have been a glaring memory lapse. We learned about crocodile lairs beneath the papyrus mats \u2014 underwater hollows where crocodiles sleep. Our safe plan was to explore one at midday when the crocs were sunning themselves on the bank. The team swam into the chamber to find a white sand bottom, dark papyrus-root roof and meter-wide tunnels leading who knows where. I lit the chamber while David photographed the reptile living room, where dozens of croc prints half the size of my fin crisscrossed the floor. There were many places I would rather be than staring down the dark tunnel in front of me, so I signaled David to hurry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quelques nuits plus tard, autour du feu de camp, un ichtyologiste de passage nous a parl\u00e9 du poisson-chat du Zamb\u00e8ze. Le poisson-chat du haut Zamb\u00e8ze (Synodontis woosnami<\/em>), une esp\u00e8ce de poisson-chat renvers\u00e9 originaire du Botswana, est jaune vif avec des pois noirs et ne sort que la nuit. Sentant que notre histoire de l'Okavango serait en quelque sorte incompl\u00e8te sans lui, nous avons planifi\u00e9 une plong\u00e9e de nuit dans le canal de Nxamasere pour documenter cette merveille du monde de l'eau douce africaine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nous avons \u00e9labor\u00e9 notre plan d'intervention, qui commen\u00e7ait par une excursion en bateau jusqu'au canal qui se jette dans la rivi\u00e8re Okavango. Les trois \u00e9quipes seraient notre \u00e9quipe de bateau (un conducteur, un projecteur et un carabinier) et deux \u00e9quipes de plongeurs : David avec Brad et moi avec Andy. Les guides nous guideraient et seraient enti\u00e8rement responsables de la plong\u00e9e, sans aucune exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gearing up with an extra light, Brad also demonstrated the \u201ccroc stoppers\u201d that each guide would carry. \u201cIt\u2019s just a pointed stick,\u201d I remarked, wondering how it would be useful against a crocodile. Brad replied, \u201cIf you see a croc, use it to kill yourself.\u201d \u201cUnderstood,\u201d I answered. Our final instructions were to never swim near the edge of or underneath the papyrus under any circumstance and immediately surface if we heard gunshots, banging or the boat engine revving. We also had to beware of drifting too fast and getting swept into the main river \u2014 the boat team wouldn\u2019t know it had happened, but the crocs would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n David and Brad rolled into the dark water first and disappeared quickly, and I momentarily thought, \u201cHe\u2019s the National Geographic<\/em> talent and had the anti-croc ceremony. Do I really need to go?\u201d Conscience and curiosity took over as Andy and I did a giant stride through the Botswana night into the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andy\u2019s light made a pitifully small circle on the bottom. We sorted ourselves out, I pointed down my strobe arms, and we began to explore. A carpet of what looked like Vermont fall leaves littered the bottom. We drifted slowly, pulling away layers to expose the bottom, finally revealing yellow whiskers and a body with black spots. Here was the reason for being where we were and where we should not have been. Andy staked the croc stick in the sand, and we used it to brace ourselves in the current. I shot several frames before the squeaker swam off. We followed but quickly lost it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pour nous rep\u00e9rer, nous avons braqu\u00e9 la lumi\u00e8re vers le haut pour d\u00e9couvrir un tapis de papyrus au-dessus de nous. Nous \u00e9tions dans le salon d'un crocodile plein d'empreintes. Andy a braqu\u00e9 la lumi\u00e8re sur le visage de la jeune femme, lui a fait un geste de tranchant sur la gorge et a commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 nager vers l'arri\u00e8re. Nous venions de sortir de la chambre lorsque nous avons entendu les moteurs tourner sans arr\u00eat et le bruit inimitable du m\u00e9tal qui frappe le m\u00e9tal. Nous avons rempli nos compensateurs de flottabilit\u00e9 et avons remont\u00e9 les trois m\u00e8tres qui nous s\u00e9paraient de la surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I managed to blurt out, \u201cWhat is\u2026\u201d as the boat team pulled us up by our hoods and hair, no ladder involved and without explanation or apology. Brad and David were already on board. We had drifted too fast and were yards from entering the river. The boat spotlight revealed many sets of blazing red eyes on the bank at the end of the Nxamasere Channel, right where we would have ended up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Heureusement, nous avons obtenu ce que nous voulions sans incident et nous avons r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 publier nos photos du Zambezi squeaker. Le delta de l'Okavango est un lieu magique, rempli de r\u00eaves et de dangers. Il ne devrait jamais \u00eatre consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme une destination de plong\u00e9e, mais \u00e9conomisez votre argent et envisagez d'y faire un safari. Il vous touchera au plus profond de votre \u00e2me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 Alert Diver<\/em> \u2014 Q1 2021<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Crocodiles are apex predators, and in the wrong place and time, humans are potential prey. There are exceptions, but most of these wonderful and primitive reptiles won\u2019t squander encountering a potential meal. When swimming in any reptile habitat, know who and what you may encounter, or don\u2019t swim at all. The resident American crocodiles at Jardines de la Reina routinely share their waters with snorkelers and divers, but Jen Hayes didn\u2019t feel the same comfort working in Nile crocodile waters in Botswana.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":18825,"template":"","dan_alert_diver_categories":[459],"dan_alert_diver_issues":[465],"class_list":["post-18824","dan_alert_diver","type-dan_alert_diver","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","dan_alert_diver_categories-life-aquatic","dan_alert_diver_issues-q1-2021"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Le](\"https:\/\/world.dan.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/a-resting-american-crocodile-stretches-and-yawns-to-expose-an-attention-getting-set-of-teeth-before-settling-into-the-soft-seagrass-to-sleep.jpg\")
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