Amidst the crocodiles of Mozambique
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Amidst the crocodiles of Mozambique - Graham Cawood
I consented to this proposal because as part payment for this assignment they agreed to let me have some of the crocodile skins. As this assignment was considered to be official business the government decided to supply me with a suitable rifle for this culling exercise.
I was issued with a very old .375 H&H Magnum rifle built by Jeffery many years ago. This rifle was kept in an old armoury and must have been taken from the Portuguese in the olden days. I am also convinced that this rifle was used extensively and if it could it would relate many old hunting stories from the early hunting days in Mozambique.
The actual challenge to start with the culling of 200 crocodiles commenced in October 2006 in an area called Shinfidzi. The locals believe that the man-eating crocodiles are owned by the old witch-doctors and that because of this they cannot be killed. The fact that the army has in the past tried to kill these man-eaters without success has merely strengthened the perception of these crocodiles being possessed by protective spirits.
My modus operandi for the hunting of crocodiles is the following: I only hunt at night from 8pm to 4 am with a spotlight positioned on a 21 feet pelican-type boat. There are no seats on the open deck.
The driver of the boat during these nightly excursions has a rather exact job description. Whenever I signal him, he has to cut the outboard motor at that precise moment. After the shot at the crocodile he has around six seconds to get the boat started up again and to reach the dead croc. If any time is wasted the reptile will most probably sink and be lost because the shooting is done in fast flowing water. Only about 15% of the crocodiles that I have culled have been shot on the river bank.
I also have another employee who is positioned in the middle of the boat. This man uses an 8 foot gaff to secure the dead crocodile and load it into the boat. My position is right at the front of the boat where I sit with a spotlight to spot the crocs.
As soon as I detect the eyes of a crocodile I have to make a rather quick decision regarding the size of the specific individual. The judgment on the length of a crocodile is done by observing the width between the eyes. If a positive evaluation is made the spotlight is given to a helper behind me so that I can take the shot.
Before I started with this venture many people told me that after firing a shot at a crocodile someone needed to dive into the water and grab the reptile. I tried doing that in fast flowing water at night and almost got killed. It really takes a special or rather stupid person to indulge in such a type of suicide mission. Apart from other crocodiles in the proximity it is extremely difficult to stay afloat in fast flowing water.
My decision to use the .375 H&H Magnum has been questioned on occasion. It has even been suggested that a .270, 30-06 or any of the 7 mm cartridges will do just fine in anchoring a crocodile. My experience is that the .375 H&H Magnum has a decisive effect on head shots with crocodiles.
Shooting crocodiles especially in fast flowing water means that you want a complete knock-out effect on brain shots. The moon plays a very important role in crocodile hunting. On dark nights with no moon crocodiles seem to be less alert in general. However, around four days before or after full moon these reptiles are very wary and I tend to kill 60% less in comparison to normal nights. Another strange phenomenon with all the big crocodiles, in other words thirteen feet or longer, is that 90% of them are shot between 00 hours and 02:00. They all seem to be asleep between these times.
Up to date I have shot six crocodiles with a length of over 13,5 feet. The longest has been a rather old crocodile, measuring no less than 15,8 feet. I have seen crocodiles which were longer than 17 feet. Most of these monsters can be found in river sections which have been untouched by human activities such as fishing.
In the last two months or so I hunted in an area where the last gorge of the Zambezi lies. This area is around 16 km long and I have managed to kill 70 crocodiles here. During the course of 2006, 32 people, 26 cattle and 41 goats were taken by crocodiles in this specific region. Some of this information has never been officially recorded due to the remoteness of this area.
Strangely enough the people inhabiting these areas just love crocodile meat. If for example a crocodile is killed at around four o'clock in the morning, my skinners will start with the skinning process around six o'clock. By seven o'clock all of the crocodile meat would have been removed and cooked by the local people.
Some people may even think that such a lonely life for a 22-year-old male is rather strange, although I find this job exciting and challenging. I've also been asked to assist with the catching of 250 crocodiles for relocation. This will be done in three other large river areas.
I would love to hunt crocodiles longer than 18 feet but the chances of success may be quite slim. I've been told by many of the locals about a so-called "father of all crocodiles". My 21 foot boat has been used by these people to indicate the length of this particular crocodile. According to them this monster croc inhabits an area with numerous small islands on a rather wide section of the river. Only time will tell whether our paths will cross in future.
As a rule I hunt in 20 square kilometre sections at a time and take great care to only remove a certain number of crocodiles from these areas as not to disturb the ecological balance. I have also embarked on a project to help educate the people of Mozambique about crocodiles and their function within the broader biodiversity system.
I have explained to the Mozambican government that the killing of crocodiles on the medium to long term will not solve the problem of local inhabitants being killed by these reptiles. For example, a while ago I arrived at a village where a woman was taken by a crocodile just minutes before. People were screaming, shouting and crying at the water's edge. The very next day I found the same bunch of people at exactly the same spot swimming in the water and washing clothes in four feet of water. The long-term plan therefore is to educate the people to be conscious of crocodiles and maybe even to have cages built at the water's edge where they can bathe and wash their clothes in safety. I also do selective crocodile trophy hunting with clients although the number of crocodiles hunted is insignificant compared to the culling operation.
A strange thing is that I must have been to areas that the late Bryan Dempster visited during his crocodile hunting days. Sitting alone in a fly camp next to a small fire, I sometimes get the feeling that I am not alone . . .
Postscript
During the PHASA convention in November 2006, I had the chance to talk to Brian Marsh, well-known author and contributor to Man/Magnum magazine. As a young man Brian also made a living from hunting crocodiles. When asked whether he actually knew Bryan Dempster, he had the following story to tell:
Although he never met Bryan Dempster in person, the book written by Dempster, namely Crocodile Fever- a true story of adventure, was the real reason why Brian Marsh decided to take up crocodile hunting as a career. As in the case of Bryan Dempster, the crocodile hunting venture produced many and rather exciting encounters with crocodiles over many years. - Editor
