While I am not a huge fan of baiting game, croc baiting is slightly different. Here, the idea is to fill their bellies so that all they want to do is sun themselves while digesting. Crocs have a highly developed sensory system and they can feel the slightest footstep coming at great distances. Thus, the baiting process is simply to dull their senses as they sleep off a big meal, though the hunter has no idea where they may sun themselves.
Two days prior I had shot a hippo, and although we had to give a hindquarter to one of the local village officials who got wind of our trophy and decided to levy a tax on us the very evening of the hunt, we still had plenty of hippo meat to use for bait. Bwana had his crew set the bait in the Luangwa in two specific places – one near camp, and the other down a winding road lined with trees and brush next to the Luangwa several miles from camp. (We called it Ele Alley!) This road was notorious for bushbuck and elephants moving to and from the river, making it rather dangerous for us driving in the Land Cruiser – not fun! In fact, the very afternoon we shot our
