Crocodiles!

We booked ourselves on a coach tour of Kakadu National Park. Everyone told us that this was a place to not miss and now we know why. After a stop at the culture center to learn about the indigenous people who lived (and still live) here, we headed for the highlight of the visit: the Yellow Water Billabong.

We were told that surveys of the river all the way to the ocean indicate that there is roughly a crocodile every 15-20 meters all the way. To give you a sense of this density, this post is only crocodiles. We may have traveled a total of mile or less on the water and here is a sample of the crocodiles, not nearly all, of what we saw.

We often saw them as eyes and a nose at the water level.

This fellow has an intricate pattern on his skin.

Here you begin to see the ridges along the back that connect this ancient predator to his forbearers.

Everywhere we looked was another croc. These are all saltwater crocodiles. They are larger and more aggressive than their freshwater relatives. Both will eat you but the salt water beast requires less provocation to do so.

Putting a sprig of flower behind his ear doesn't do much to soften his look.

Another scary monster.

Perhaps the scariest of all is this guy, out of the water on the shore.

Even though it looks as if he is giving me the stare down, he is trying to cool himself with his mouth open. He is really huge and very scary. I'm sure if I were to step on shore, that'd be the end of me.