The Original Jumping Croc Tour

When I was in Northern Australia everybody talked about the saltwater crocodiles. There was an abundance of warning signs and stories of people losing their lives due to crocs.  I couldn’t swim in the ocean, I couldn’t go near river banks, and I couldn’t randomly stroll near any body of water. Saltwater crocodiles seemed to be everywhere. It’s impossible not to see an advertisements for a saltwater crocodile tour in Darwin. There is even a saltwater crocodile exhibit in the smack dab middle of downtown.

After all this anticipation, I had been in crocodile territory for nearly a month and still had not seen one. I decided it was time to remedy the situation and go on a crocodile tour. After sorting through fliers, looking at reviews, and asking for recommendations, I opted for the infamous Jumping Crocodile Tour. It’s an hour’s drive out of Darwin and I managed to get the last spot on an 11am tour.

Our skipper went over the rules, which were very simple – Keep your body parts inside the boat at all times! “The crocs sneak up on da’ boat and next thing ya know one’s swimming off with ya arm. I’m not losing me job over some tourist fellow not follow’n instructions.” I didn’t need to be told twice to keep my limbs in the boat. He had been doing the Jumping Croc Tour for 15 years and likely knew what he was talking about. “They still scares the dickens out of me,” he admitted.

There was a big bucket of steaks on the boat. Our skipper tied a steak to a stick and put it in the water. Simple as that. Crocodiles find their prey by vibrations, and he slapped the steaks on the water’s surface until he saw one coming. The crocs were very sneaky, and many times we didn’t see the crocs until they jumped out of the water and grabbed the steak.

One of the fascinating things I learned was how crocodiles hunt. We’ve all seen the video of a crocodile lunging out of the water and taking down its unsuspecting prey. What I didn’t know is that a crocodile will stalk the same prey for several days before it attacks. It will wait on the other side of the river and silently watch a specific animal. The prey will feel more daring as the days go by and get a little further into the water. Once the prey feels perfectly comfortable the crocodile will wait right next to the shore and make a surprise attack.

The skipper knew and had names for every crocodile. We got quite a scare when he eyed one of them suspiciously. “I haven’t seen this ‘un for a long time. E’ tends to jump t’wards the boat, and last time e’ nearly landed on top of me. I gave ‘im a few big whacks and he hasn’t been round since.” The crocodile proved the skipper’s uneasiness because he flung himself at the steak with such enthusiasm that he hit the boat. Curses ensued and the skipper immediately drove away from the crocodile. I had a feeling it was the last time he would try and feed that one.

We drove up to various crocodiles to see if they would play. Most of them knew the drill and gave a little leap out of the water. Some of them made fantastic jumps for the steak. The crocs would always get a different response from the skipper such as “Come now Esmeralda, you’re not even trying!” or “Can’t you put in a little more effort, Prince?” and “Yeah, Constantine always likes showing off.”

Unfortunately, the star of the show failed to make an appearance. Alpha is the biggest and oldest male croc on that part of the Adelaide River. Officialy we were in his territory. “It’s mating season and Alpha ‘as bout 50 girlfriends so e’sa little busy.” Skipper drove to Alpha’s favorite spot, where just a month before he had dragged a steer into the river. But Alpha was busy doing crocodile things and was nowhere to be seen.

The hour went by quickly and the tour was over before I knew it. What a show! I had finally seen a crocodile in the wild. Although I am torn about the sustainability of the tour itself. Feeding steaks to wild crocodiles doesn’t seem very environmental. They try to justify this by giving steaks to different crocs throughout the day. This tiny piece of steak is not enough food for the crocodile to fully depend on. I’m not sure if this justifies the tour, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a lot of fun to watch.