As dwarf crocodiles grow scarce, hunters are chasing the ferocious Nile crocodile instead. They can be six metres long and frequently kill humans
parents are disappointed. Their son took a boat from their riverside village to the city of Mbandaka, in the heart of the Congo Basin rainforest, where he enrolled in a teacher-training college. They wanted him to become a crocodile hunter, like his father and most of his ancestors. “There is a lot of pressure,” says Mr Nyalowala. Hunting for bush meat is popular—and may pay better than teaching.
However, it harms wildlife in the rainforest, which spans six countries and is second in size only to the Amazon. Around 6m tonnes of bush meat are thought to come out of the Congo Basin each year. The number of animals killed for the pot has been increasing, according to a study from 2016 led by Goethe University Frankfurt. More hunters are selling their prey in markets, instead of eating it themselves.
Over-hunting has made life more dangerous for crocodile hunters. The number of dwarf crocodiles, once common in the Congo river, is dwindling. So hunters have to chase the ferocious Nile crocodile instead. There are plenty of those. Their scaly bodies stretch to six metres and they often kill humans. Stalkers in canoes go after them at night, shining a torch while stirring the water. “The crocodile does not like that,” says Mr Nyalowala. “He begins to writhe and then comes to attack.
A live crocodile fetches more than a dead one in the markets in Mbandaka, so hunters bind their jaws and transport them some 200km downstream in their canoes. They sell for around $150 each. A teacher at a state school, by comparison, earns around $170 a month, though many did not get paid at all last year. No wonder Mr Nyalowala’s parents wanted him to follow in his father’s footsteps.
This article appeared in the Middle East and Africa section of the print edition under the headline "A crocodile-hunter’s tears"
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