Jumping Croc River
After settling into Australia for a few days, the event that would turn out to be the highlight of my trip would come while on what is being called “The Jumping Crocodile Cruise”. It’s a tour down the Adelaide River, where “wild” crocs are literally jumping out of the water after being offered a hunk of meat dangling from a long stick. Okay, they don’t actually jump out of the water, but they can propel themselves up to 2/3rd of their body length out of the water with their strong tail, it’s certainly a site to see.
Of course the reason for going on the cruise is so we could film this amazing event. We rolled up to the dock just in time to go out on the one hour tour. There were about 25 people attending and we all got onto the boat. It was a double Decker, with the bottom deck being enclosed, of course so you wouldn’t be eaten by one of the many 15 plus foot crocs that had become accustomed to being fed by the tour boats. We choose the upper deck, which was open air, to get the best shots of the crocs feeding. The first thing that was amazing was how many wild crocs were in the river, the width of the river was about the length of a football field, and there were dozens of crocs on the banks as well as swimming in the water. It made me realize just how dangerous it would be to swim anywhere in the Darwin, Australia area. As the tour boat captain said, “Where there’s water, there are crocs”. Gives you something to think about, that’s for sure!
We heading up the river, the gig was to get the crocs excited and make them lunge out of the water after the hunk of meat on a long stick. Two or three jumps per croc, per side, so as everyone on both sides of the boat could get a good view. In the hour cruise we probably had a chance to see about a half dozen different crocs feed, all larger then 13 foot! We filmed the entire event, but of course this was only the start to the adventure.
We headed back to the docks, we jumped off the big boat and met up with the captian and owner of the cruise, Peter. He lead us to a very small catamaran boat, this one certainly had no protection from the “wild” crocs, no windows separating us from the Saltys. The idea was to be as close to the action as possible, and of course I would be the one dangling the prey!
The tide was coming in, so the once exposed banks of the river were all but submerged by time we got back out. There were still a few crocs on the larger banks, but for the most part the amazing creatures were all in the water. With that being said, we could hardly see any swimming around. I knew they were there because we just had seen them on the previous tour, which made me even more convinced that swimming was not a good idea in any waterway. Our first Salty that we came across was one that they named “Ugly”, at some point in his life he had his part of his top jaw bitten off by another croc, making him look relatively deformed and pretty unusual looking. He was close to the bank, so we decided to lead him onto the bank to get the best footage. After a short briefing, I was handed a pole and of course the hunk of beef was dangling from the end. Ugly, was about 14-15 foot and a huge animal, they are not nearly as graceful out of the water. The boat was right against the shoreline and Ugly was just a couple of feet away from me. I lead him toward the meat and pulled away just as he was snapping at it. At one point he missed the meat and fell within a foot of my position on the boat. I think I was so excited I didn’t even think to be afraid, probably not the best of reactions? After playing with him for a few more minutes, I gave him his reward and we were back on the river.
This time I wanted to try my hand at getting a croc to jump out of the water. The trick is to find one that is hungry, which they always are, and get them excited enough to have them jump for the meat. We came up on a 14 footer and I started to dangle the prey above it’s head. Crocs don’t have great eye sight, although their senses are incredible. The trick is to hold the meat as steady as you can right above their head, so they don’t lose focus and just swim away. They are relatively easy to read, when they are ready to go for it their body almost disappears and their snout starts to point into the air. Next thing you know they explode out of the water, jaws open and ready to pounce on their prey. Again, I was advised to pull the meat away a few times to get a few jumps. I was having the time of my life! After a handful of huge jumps, I finally gave my new friend the reward and we got all the footage we needed. I’m sure the smile on my face said it all.
Although the entire trip was incredible, there’s no doubt that this experience stuck out as the best time and by far the most fun. I know if I ever need a new career, I can apply for a job on the Adelaide river, feeding wild Salt Water Crocodiles!
