BUFFALOES AND CROCODILES 



In the water surrounding the island crocodiles seemed 

 to be on guard and ready to attack any living creature 

 fording the river. I often saw dozens of them lying on 

 sand-banks and basking in the sun. Not far from them, 

 on the same sand-banks, herons, Nile geese, and other 

 swamp and water birds were watching for prey. These 

 birds seem not to fear the crocodiles, but they are, never- 

 theless, on their guard ; they avoid the deeper places of 

 the streams, where these reptiles might attack them un- 

 awares. A kind of " armed peace " exists between these 

 birds and these saurians. In the Sudan a little bird 

 acts as the guardian of crocodiles, warning them of 

 approaching enemies. The buffaloes could not have 

 chosen a more unhealthy spot for their haunt. 



In vain I tried to find the haunts of the buffaloes in 

 the swamps. I followed the tunnelled paths of the 

 hippopotamus for hours, only to return after a fruit- 

 less search to the camp, cut by the sharp reed-grasses 

 and stung by mosquitoes. Finally I became convinced 

 that the buffaloes had no regular paths at all, and that 

 they could hardly be approached in the swamps, al-. 

 though I could locate them in a general way. Wher- 

 ever the herd was, resting or moving, a number of herons 

 could be seen circling in the air, for they feed partly on 

 the parasites that live on the buffaloes. The island, too, 

 was swarming with insects and teeming with vermin. 

 Although the camping - ground itself was fairly free of 

 them — for it had been cleared of grass and shrubs and 



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