Escape From The Lagoon

There is an abundance of wildlife in Mexico, and the Pacific coastline has its fair share. Some of it requires you to go looking – bats, crabs, fish, birds. Some of it requires a little luck or good timing – turtles, whales. Other wildlife comes to you – flies, fleas, mozzies and stray dogs.

Sighting a croc normally requires a trip upstream, or in a lagoon, but on this occasion a croc came to see us. He was one of a pair that for whatever reason decided the confines of the river weren’t to its liking, and made their way into the open seas. Not such a good move. The water probably isn’t healthy (are there salt water crocs in Mexico?), the waves and rocks a distinct danger, and well….there’s those humans too. They wouldn’t be allowed to stay in swimming water for long.

We only saw one of the crocs. The first had, apparently, already been caught and returned to his natural habitat, straight after an educational visit to a local school. Educational for the croc, pupils, or both? I’m not sure. The second appeared right outside our stretch of beach, although no one was swimming at the time. Fortunate really, because he was no titch. Although I suspect he was more interested in survival than dinner.

A crowd gathered, including police. They had ‘Ecological’ on their shirts, but carried M16 assault rifles nonetheless. Another chap, seemingly in charge of the recovery process, had a stick and some rope. At one stage, with the huge beast washed ashore, having survived a barrage of waves smashing him into rocks, he ran towards it, ready to use his lasso. He paused at the vital moment – its size was more apparent when he was on dry(ish) land. Not a titch at all. The pause was all the time the croc needed to flap a u-turn and back into the sea. He fancied his chances with the waves better.

I don’t know how the story ended. I missed the climax, because when I returned the crowd had gone and so had the croc. I like to think he was captured safely and returned home with his pal. The video is short, and the details indistinct, but it was the best I could do.

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