On a early afternoon at the end of June I witnessed to a crossing of the Mara river by a herd of approximately one hundred zebras. They were heading south from the Masai Mara National Reserve to Trans-Mara. As soon as the first zebras entered the water the crocodiles got in position. Approximately 10 crocodiles were hunting at the same time.
The crocodiles patiently waited for some young or apparently weak animal to pass close to them. With so many crocodiles in the water it was difficult to choose which one to follow with the camera in order to photograph the attack. One in particular tried repeatedly with various zebras, both adult and young.
Zebras are no easy catch, even for the big crocodiles that inhabit the Mara river. This one leapt out of the water and escaped a potentially fatal attack. These were the first crossings of the season and the crocodiles have been waiting for this moment since the migration left the Mara at the end of October last year.
This young zebra towards the end of the herd felt victim of a terrible joint attack from more than one crocodile. Other zebras continued to cross as the two giant crocodiles tightened their grip on the poor zebra’s body.
The final moment for the unfortunate zebra. The biggest of crocodiles climbs on its back and drags the head of the zebra under water and drawns it. After that the struggle continued under the surface of the water. All the other zebras crossed the river successfully and ran away into the plains. They were following their instict leading them to some fresh new grazing fields in Trans-mara.
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