The Beast That Wouldn’t Die by Greg Kurdys

The Beast That Wouldn’t Die

by Greg Kurdys

Our story begins when Jaja and Babcha make the long journey to Africa for a safari. After three airplane flights we arrive in our camp in Humani, Zimbabwe. The camp is located on the Turgwe River. It is a beautiful location where we can look out the front of our cabin and watch elephants across the river. Our professional hunter, Guy met us at the camp. As soon as we had our hunting gear unpacked, we loaded up into Guy’s truck and went out to look for a giant crocodile. The crocodiles in Zimbabwe are Nile crocodiles. We went to a large lake that had been created by a dam. We walked along the shoreline trying to be as quiet as possible. Crocodiles have excellent eyesight and can even feel vibrations in the ground from people walking! We spotted several crocodiles, but most were too small, only eight or ten feet long! Then as we rounded the last bend to a quiet cove, Guy held up his hand to stop. We carefully peeked around the corner and there it was, a giant crocodile. It was lying half in the water on a steep bank. It looked like a prehistoric creature, which of course it is. Guy told Jaja, it was not a good place to shoot the crocodile because it would slide into the lake. We agreed to go back in the afternoon and see if it had moved.

In the afternoon, we drove back to the lake and quietly crossed through the jungle to the opposite side of the cove. The giant crocodile was there! He had moved to a different location and was on our side of the cove and very close! Guy told Jaja it would be a good place to try to shoot it. To shoot a crocodile you must hit a very small target. While they are very large animals, the target spot is only the size of a golf ball.

Guy set up his shooting sticks and Jaja placed his rifle on top of them. He sighted the crocodile through his rifle scope, took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger on the rifle. The shot hit the crocodile and it collapsed onto the sand. Jaja shot it again to make sure it was dead, but it did not even move when the second shot hit it. We were confident it was dead.

We carefully walked up to the crocodile. Jaja had his rifle ready in case it moved, but it did not move. When we were close, we could see how old and immense it was. It was fourteen feet long and weighed one thousand pounds, which is over three times bigger than Jaja! Our tracker, Jay, put a rope on its nose. He and a couple helpers dragged the crocodile in the water at the edge of the lake to a small beach so we could take some photos. When they were dragging it, Babcha said, “I think his leg is moving”. They told us it was just reflexes, which are common in reptiles even after they are dead.

At the beach we took many photos and moved the crocodile a few times for different types of photos. When they were moving him, Babcha said, “I think his eye blinked”! Guy told Jaja that he better shoot it again to make sure it was dead. When Jaja shot his rifle, the giant crocodile rose up on its legs and began crawling toward the lake. Jaja shot him again! The crocodile collapsed on the ground and began rolling back and forth. Tracker Jay tried to stop him, but he was just too big!  Jay jumped out of the way. Then the crocodile stopped moving. This time it really was dead.

It took six men to wrangle the crocodile into the back of the truck. It barely fit! On the way back to camp, Jaja sat in the back of the truck with Jay and placed his feet on top of the crocodile’s head. It still had some reflexive movement, and tried to raise its head, but it really was dead. Jaja and Babcha agreed that crocodiles were the reason for stories about beasts that wouldn’t die.

At the camp, everyone came out to see the giant beast. They hoisted him up as high as they could, but his tail was still touching the ground! It was more than twice as long as Jaja! The people from the local village told us the crocodile was so big that he had killed and eaten three of their cows. They were happy to have him gone from the lake!

Jaja and Babcha stayed at the camp for another week and even had the opportunity to help relocate some elephants. It was lots of fun and gave us a realization about the size of elephants. They made even the giant crocodile look small! Babcha tended a baby elephant to make sure it stayed calm. Jaja was asked to help push a mommy elephant onto her side, so she didn’t roll onto her baby. It took Jaja and eight other men to do it! All the elephants were loaded onto trucks so they could be taken to their new home where there was lots of food, but no other elephants. We also spent time following Cape Buffalo. Jaja was also hunting Cape Buffalo but decided not to shoot one. It was still fun stalking them and being very close. We also spent time photographing lots of animals. We saw lots of Babcha’s favorite animal, the giraffe, but we also saw lions, impala, wildebeests, warthogs, eland and many wonderfully colored birds.

The best part of this story is that it is all true! Africa is a wonderful place for an adventure, and Jaja and Babcha would like to take you there some day. Then one day when you are older you can create your own adventures. Maybe you will even tell the stories to your grandchildren.

The end.