Expedition Monsoon : The Water Monster

We are back in town for a day to dry up, and have managed to put together a quick clip of our tryst with a mugger crocodile at Ranganthittu. This is the clip where Paul has for the first time in his life seen and even got this close to a big Croc. He was in for quite a surprise when this happened.



Presentation: Paul Williams, Direction: Kalyan Varma, Camera: David Heath, Production Manager/Sound: Mandana Dilan.

Lot more stories coming up soon. We are heading to the more familiar jungles of BR hills and Nagarahole for the big wildlife and from there we start driving up the state along the Western Ghats.

Note : Sorry about the bad quality of this video. It’s a quick edit and we will put up much better quality stuff once we get back.

12 Comments

  1. Sandeep R · July 14, 2009 Reply

    Good to see those baby crocs.. During my visit in Feb, it was mating season.. could see water vibrate over males looking for mate.
    waiting for more.

  2. CS Sharada Prasad · July 14, 2009 Reply

    Awesome… I can’t wait to watch the other videos you guys are coming up with.

  3. Radha · July 14, 2009 Reply

    This one’s great Kalyan 🙂 Waiting to see more videos from your trip.. Good luck for spotting in BR Hills and Nagarahole!

  4. Jeffrey Friedl · July 14, 2009 Reply

    So as the boat is getting closer and Paul gestures with his hand, I wondered how long the hand would remain attached to the arm (or the arm attached to the body). Was there no worry that the croc might lunge for a bit of lunch, or is this type always skittish of humans/boats?

    • Kalyan Varma · July 18, 2009 Reply

      Very valid point Jeffrey. There are 2 things at play here :

      1. The crocs are quite habituated. This is a very popular tourist destination and the crocs are used to having boats few feet away from them many times a day. Till now, there has not been any history of them trying to attack humans (though they have in other parts of the river where the come in contact with humans).

      2. Seeing our big camera etc, the boatman decided to get adventures and decided to take us very close to the animal. We didn’t think he would go so close.. and I feel bad that the croc got so disturbed that it had to jump into the water. If you see the second part of the clip after this, where paul is few meters away from the croc.. that was the working distance we had in mind.. but you know how these things turn out.

      I know a lot of presenters take a lot of pride in getting close or handing dangerous animals. Paul from what I know, is very very sensible about it and he wants to be a David Attenborough kind of presenter and not a Steve Irwin kind.

  5. Pradeep Prakash · July 15, 2009 Reply

    Yes, I understand the feeling that Paul had, I happened to catch the same crocodile in the same ‘pose’ when I had been to Rangantittu in the last week of June. Here it is

    http://pradeepclicks.com/phpalbum/main.php?cmd=imageview&var1=Wildlife+n+Birds%2FRangantittu+Bird+Sanctuary%2FDSC_2626_fi.jpg

    Observe the rack of razor sharp teeth. Scary isn’t it???

  6. shivani · July 15, 2009 Reply

    this is Awesome .. congrats..waiting for more vedios 🙂

  7. Mahesh · July 17, 2009 Reply

    The person who is speaking looks totally out of place in front of the camera, trying to emulate other well established discovery/bbc naturalists.

    • Kalyan Varma · July 18, 2009 Reply

      Curious to know why you felt that Mahesh ?

      Paul who is presenting, is new to India and is presenting what he sees and feels of the place. For example we are used to the crocs in Ranganthittu, but for someone who is new to this place, it is still very scary/amazing experience to be so close to a wild croc. I also think that Paul had his unique style in talking and presenting.

      Looking forward to your comments.

      • Mahesh · July 20, 2009 Reply

        Kalyan,
        I remember the first time I visited Ranganathittu santuary and was surprised to find crocs
        in the water sharing the eco with birds. Later learnt the unique relationship they share
        with each other in terms of protection of the habitat itself vs crocs getting their daily round of snacks. Talking about the presenter, I felt he wanted to speak a lot but was lost or lacked knowledgable content about crocodiles hence ended up mumbling “wow did you see that” or something like that when the croc resting on a rock simply vanished in the water which would be the most common reaction of any animal (reptile in this case) when humans ventured close to it. The very fact that his tone and expression showed surprise and excitement in seeing the croc vanish inside the water made me feel he was a bit amatuer. He may be a knowledgeable person in the area of wildlife but certainly not good as a presenter.
        These are my personal views.
        – Mahesh

  8. Paul Williams · September 15, 2009 Reply

    Hay Kalyan, Ive taken this video down from facebook – its now on YouTube in a much better edited form and higher resolution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWPl50YpjLA Cheers, Paul

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