Happened on Bocas Dzilam, north of the Yucatan Peninsula, in a place that is neither coast, or forest, or mangrove, but has a bit of everything, as if the chaos outside its natural state. And in the chaos cormorants coexist with egrets, common spatulas… and crocodiles, eg.
And we were there we, behind an enthusiastic guide, recording our series A World Apart, in search of indigenous. But in that place is no villages and fauna which governs the riverbanks.
And in one of those banks saw the crocodile. "A female", I later. "A female guarding her eggs", I was told. "An angry female guarding her eggs", nuanced after the last shock. Alligators can jump and even run a few meters, so it is essential the first moment, the flight as a reflection. There is an absurd attraction between man and beast, as if the proximity of a magnet jaws exercise of emotions. Y allí me fui, like an idiot waiting to see up close how the firecrackers explode at the village fete.
Only men show became a mother caring for their offspring
We wanted to capture the moment. When a reporter intends to report first-person encounter with a wild animal, three things can happen: his boldness bold receive recognition, recklessness that ends with him or recklessness in unintentional comedy becomes. And the latter is what happened.
Up to twice tried to approach the poor mama crocodile, to sublimate a meeting that she did not want, because only men show became a mother caring for their offspring. And she, clear, opened his mouth attacked while jumping into my. The result was panic stampede to a row of teeth clamped on my leg, the frightened gritillo, guttural fear, retreating awkward race.
Both got scared. The crocodile reacted with mother's pride, I without any decorum. She attacked, I ran scared. This is what happens when you think Indiana Jones and just is an intruder on the bank of a river. Long ago he owed an apology to the mother crocodile. Sorry.
