A visit to the Croc Park!

I’m writing this really quickly because the longer I look at these pictures, I get a rising sense of impending doom and start experiencing palpitations. The tour at Malcolm Douglas’ Crocodile Park starts off with a little wander around the park on your own, meeting the cute feathered and fluffy inhabitants of this park, which lulls you into a rather false sense of happiness and oh-isn’t-Australia’s-fauna-just-so-beautiful-and-BENIGN. Everyone then gathers to the main pond where you pass around the most gorgeous baby crocodiles (of course with their mouths deftly tied shut to save you from certain digit amputation) and once again everyone coos and poses smiling with the tiny reptilian offspring. They’re surprisingly soft to the touch! In the nearby algae-covered pools, you start to see that the surface of the water is actually patterned with the ridges of many spines, just lying in wait.

Then – it’s feeding time. This was the most thrilling and amazing part of the tour. The guides fearlessly enter the enclosures and practically taunt these giant crocodiles with fish, making them launch themselves into the air to show off their size and sheer strength. They are utterly ferocious and brutal even to their own kind, and what makes them so fascinating is just how deathly still they are just moments before the attack. You will literally not see it coming.

I give this place a rating of five bajillion stars out of ten. Take plenty of sunscreen and water, and wear something breezy. And please say hi to my friend the “barking” owl! He actually says “woof woof”, that’s his natural cry, and he and I had a stimulating conversation, a heart to heart even. Nice to know someone really gets me.