Crocodiles!

Yesterday was New Years Day and I had the day off so I decided to spend the day with a friend and visit the local tourist attraction, Katchakally Sacred Pools, home of crocodiles, lots of them. While wending our way to the pools we passed a tree that I have seen frequently in The Gambia called the Cotton Tree.  It grows very tall and has a very interesting trunk structure at the ground level. I am standing in the middle of a couple of roots (trunk parts??)

Here is another view from another side of the same tree (without the beautiful model posing):

But I promised you crocodiles and you shall receive them.  When we entered the crocodile area we got a guide who works for tips.  He informed us that the crocodiles were pretty safe because they feed them lots of fish before the park opens so that they are not hungry.  The first thing we could do is touch one of the crocs known to be tolerant of such things. Trust me these guys did not move.  Here I am patting the croc:

I don't know if you can see it but the croc has a greenish cast that looks like it is algae but it apparently is tiny plants that will become water lillies.  You can see there is another croc right behind me who was totally unimpressed with my presence. No I was not sitting on his head. I do not think that would have been recommended behavior.

The picture below is of our guide who tolds us all about the crocs and the sacred pools. Apparently before it became a tourist attraction the pools were considered sacred to help women who wanted to have a baby. They ,merely had to bathe in the pools.  Hopefully there were not as many crocs then.  I doubt that there were.  Our guide said that they feed the crocs fish every morning so they are fat and happy when the tourists come.  They control the numbers of them by taking eggs out of the nests.  I don't think that I would volunteer for that duty, thank you very much.

As we walked around we saw crocs of all sizes sunning themselves in the morning sun. I have no idea how many there were, but there were a lot.

If I were with you all I would sing you the song "Never Smile at a Crocodile" -- Patti I know this breaks your heart to miss it. But I would give you two examples of smiling crocodiles and I think you can see why you should not hang around smiling at them.

Note in the big smile below that the crocodiles have no tongues. So I guess they can't apologize for biting you.  The other interesting tidbit I learned from the guide is that crocodiles have their mouths open to cool off, kind of like dogs, but I could not hear him panting.

We also some some crocs who made it past the egg culling stage.  There are at least 3 different sized small ones in the picture belo

Then for an extra added bonus, I thought I would throw in a few pictures from the little museum they had with the pools. The first is a picture of the original, more up country version of the Kankurang. I have included pictures in other entries but they were shaggy red guys.  This is more the original version which was made of tree bark.

The next one I am not really sure what it is but I don't think I would like to meet him.  I don't think Gambians were ever into shrunken heads.

The final museum picture is of a marimba like instrument.  Palm fronds and gourds can make music too.

And then lest you forget that this was titled Crocodiles!, my friend and I went to the restaurant that had the Beware crocodile sign.  The resident crocodile actually graced us with his presence. You will probably have to double click to get the larger view, but he is actually in there swimming. That is not a log, it is a crocodile right next to where we were enjoying lunch. Not as big as the big ones we saw at Katchakally, but I would say 5 feet long. We did not try to pet this one.