Attacks on humans are common, and many go unreported. Nile crocodiles live in numbers in close proximity to human habitation and would undoubtedly kill and eat more people than any other animal. Most fatal attacks on humans occur while wading or standing a few feet from water on a gently sloping bank. Swimming or trailing one’s hand in the water is suicidal.
In Africa’s remote regions, people only have rivers and water holes for collecting water, washing clothes and bathing. Crocodiles between 7 to 10 feet (2 to 3 metres) in length can take children and smaller people, while those over 10 feet (3 metres) would have no difficulty with even large adults. It is estimated that about two-thirds of crocodile attacks are fatal.
On a late summer afternoon at the Kariba crocodile farm, we were walking from pen to pen, admiring the large crocodiles. On one pen hung a sign that read something like, ‘Satan, stand well back’. Then, we saw him. Unlike the other crocodiles with their olive and light brown skins, he was very dark, almost black. Only a battered 4 foot storm-mesh fence separated him from us. Without warning he charged, and for a moment it looked like the whole fence would collapse. It was the first time I’d heard a crocodile roar. For some reason, he seemed enraged. That little incident was all that was needed to explain the battered fence and the sign that hung on it.