I wonder what it is about young boys that crocs find so delicious. Good size? Tender? Or perhaps it just opportunism - the boys love the water but aren't experienced enough to know the dangers.
So we see crocs - lots of crocs - in fact hundreds of crocs. It's a bit unnerving to be so close to these predators when there's only a bit of rusty netting between croc and lunch.
The signs could do with an update. They're so faded the warning against swimming is barely noticeable.
But it's not all crocs. There's other wildlife at the zoo. Nik takes time out to do some communing with a distant cousin.
The crocs look quite lethargic really. Hardly threatening at all when you see them like this.
Then lunched is served. Dead chooks are strung on a wire 3m above the surface, and the crocs get a bit more active.
This is seriously scary - especially when those jaws snap closed.
It's really not a good day for chooks. While the crocs may go for brute force, we humans like to put a bit more finesse into our meals. And so it was that we enrolled in the Bumbu cooking class in the afternoon, where chicken curry was on the menu for dinner.
After donning our delightful aprons
we knocked up a nice Tako (coconut milk, pea flower and sugar set around sweetcorn in screwpine leaves) for dessert, then set to work with mortar and pestle to grind up the curry ingredients. While that was bubbling away we prepared the Sambal Midin (local fern fronds), but the dried prawns and shrimp paste were a bit overpowering for most.
The finished result was supurb.
Everyone was groaning by the end of dinner, and most of the Tako
got taken back to the Lodge for breakfast.
So an excellent day for most. Crocs 1, humans 1, chooks -2.
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