More crocodiles released into the Okavango

Special Correspondent

SHAKAWE – Here's a Christmas story with a difference - about 100 farm-reared young crocodiles this week suddenly found themselves free to swim wherever they want, and dive as deep as they can in the clear water among water lilies and papyrus stalks, with live, colourful fish whisking past their astonished faces.

While this could in one way be a perfect Christmas story of a confined existence changing in an instant into one of freedom in paradise, the team that released the crocs could not help but pity them a little bit as a battle awaits them to fend for themselves away from the heated ponds and fast food existence they have been used to during their almost two years of their lives!

While crocodiles have been receiving a lot of bad press during the past months due to the flooding of the Okavango swamps crocodile farm at Sitatunga and the fear and anger caused by the increase of these crocs in the river, few people realize how more crocodiles actually benefit them as more in the river actually keeps the water and the fish population of our Okavango Delta healthy!

This fact was the reason why the Krokovango Crocodile Farm in Samochima in the Okavango panhandle area was established in collaboration with the Department of Wildlife in 2004, and is the reason why this farm has just released the final batch of a total of 300 crocodiles into the river.

Like in the Maun area, concerns are expressed by many in the panhandle, but Krokovango does its best to inform and educate people on how to live alongside wildlife for a healthier environment through the Leseding Centre and the University of the Free State research done in this area. Research is also done by the Crocodile Research Monitoring team, and the Department of Animal Health and Wildlife departments are involved in the process from beginning to end.

The release was accompanied by Dr T Aron from Veterinary Services, and Israel Modisa from the Wildlife Department.

The main role of crocodiles in the river is to act out their role in the food chain by keeping the numbers of predatory fish down, such as catfish, which in turn helps to increase the fish favoured by subsistence and recreational fishermen, adding to food security in the area and the rest of the country.

Three batches of crocodiles were released over a period of 4 years, their age being one and a half years to give them a better chance of survival in the wild.

The released crocodiles were all tagged and numbered to follow their movements and monitor their behaviour to study the transition of farmed animals to wild animals more closely.

The surprise factor of this release project has been that two actually returned to the farm, yearning for the safety of heated ponds and regular food, one of them even came back after a full year from as far as Nxamasere lagoon which is more than two hours upstream by boat.

Even though it looks like pure bliss when a farm-reared animal takes to the freedom of deep and clear water, this shows that the transition to territoriality and the survival of the fittest is not entirely problem free.

It is for this reason that Vince Shacks, from the crocodile monitoring team, states that most of the released crocodiles were later spotted in the shallow floodplain waters, where fishing is easier and larger crocodiles do not feel so comfortable.