Keep a Distance!

By Clement Tembo, NewZ reporter

“Who are going to the crocodile farm?” asks Mabo Mwanza the transport officer at MS-Zambia. “I am driving off now!”

We were going to see the crocodiles at the crocodile farm called Kaliyoliyo – an alternative outing to the boat trip that others had chosen to take.

At the farm, we met the foreman Wilson Kalokwa, who advised participants on dos and don’ts. The foreman was speaking Tonga and MS-Zambia Programme Officer, Mr. Charlton Sulwe, interpreted in English.

No Noise! Making noise such as shouting and too much of stumping foot may scare crocodiles. When crocodiles run away, they stay in water without coming out to eat for a week. When crocodiles starve, worries arise on the farm.

“No one should dare throw a stone at the crocodiles, as doing so may also scare them,” Mr. Kalokwa said.

At this point the reporter suggests that crocodiles get more upset than human beings.

Even if the saying goes; “Fortune favours the brave,” you can’t be on this farm.

Watching crocodiles 20 metres away could probably be the wise thing to do, as one who goes five metres to see them may turn out the most foolish.

We get to a different apartment; crocodiles are kept in separate apartments according to their sizes and age groups. Here we found the one that had just clocked 75 years old the week we visited. “Woo!” wooed the participants in surprise.

It is very rare to see 12.000 crocodiles in 12 minutes. There were more than one thousand 1,000 crocodile in each apartment.

The crocodile farm was, is and will remain an exclusive place to take a trip to.