"As some of you know and as referenced in Bill C's post above, Buzz Charlton is in the States finishing the editing of his new video. They are still expecting to have the video out by the time of the shows in January. I was talking to Buzz yesterday about another subject and we got into a discussion of this thread (as well as the Dangerous Game episode involving the fellow that was gored by a buffalo and was damning in his silence about the PH). Anyway one part of the video is about croc hunting, shot placement on crocs, etc.

As you can imagine being right in the middle of a making a DVD on crocs and croc hunting, Buzz had plenty of information that I found interesting and thought I would share here. Here is what I understand:

1. It was the trackers son (identified by the tracker) found in the croc.

2. Croc was shot 4 days after the attack and is the acid in the croc’s stomach that made the body parts look white -- the pigmentation has been eaten away.

3. In the one photo that shows a bloody mass on the croc teeth, the PH’s second tracker said it was a human liver. They sort of thought nothing of it since they had not skinned the croc yet to discover what was inside.

4. Apparently, 2 years prior to this incident, in the same area, Buzz was guiding a hunt and in the first 6 days of the hunt 6 people were killed by crocs. In a 15 foot croc that Buzz shot they also found body parts but they were much more digested then the above.

5. The Chawalo area probably had the highest rate of man eating crocs in history, something like 30 confirmed in one season alone and it only has about 30 kilometers of Lake Caborabassa frontage.

6. The government wanted to declare the crocs vermin and have them killed on sight. The PH in the photos above, with the aid of certain SCI chapters and money generated by hunters, refurbished the ancient water systems that the Portuguese had in the area and there is now running water right through the town of Zumbo (the small village in this area). As a result, incidents of man eating crocs in this area are way down as people now are able to get water from taps.

7. Zumbo has an important place in history too. A lot of ivory shot in now Zambia and Centeral Africa was bought down the Luangwa River to Zumbo. It is, however, more infamous as a slave trading post. The old fig tree that the slaves were chained to during the slave auctions still stands in the middle of the town and the old remains of slave pits can be seen.

8. Also, while hunting there several years ago Buzz discovered an old convent that was still in relatively good condition despite the roof having been plundered by local villages. DVD should be pretty damn interesting IMHO.

Mike
Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool."

"....A large croc took a plastic bucket out of one of our camp staff! He crushed it, and his teeth made holes in it. The bucket ended on a sand bar about 150 yards away.

A few days later, the camp staff took pots and pans, made such a racket, crossed the river, and retrieved the bucket! I have photos of the bucket, I will dig them out and post them on my hunt report.

At our camp this year, we had "camp crocs" come to feed every day right below where the camp was. There was a small area of the river which is semi-protected - no more than about 150 square feet. We tied meet down there and the crocs came to feed, together with some turtles.

We shot a 14.5 foot croc on what we called "paradise island". We had lunch there one day, and never saw a single croc. We put some bait, and the next day clobbered that one.

In Africa, one should NEVER forget that any minute can turn the tables, and one can end up as a tasty meal for something."