dinner time
August 22, 2012 8:33 AM Subscribe
A friend of mine takes photographers on such safaris each August. I turned down the opportunity two weeks ago to join him at his special rates. Don't ask me why, yes, I know I'm an idiot.
posted by infini at 8:46 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by infini at 8:46 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
I thought all the crocodiles were at the Lion King's conference.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:47 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:47 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
Holy shit photo #5.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:52 AM on August 22, 2012
posted by shakespeherian at 8:52 AM on August 22, 2012
I go see this as often as I can, which so far has been 3 times. I'm hoping to go while the migration is still on this year. It's really awesome to behold, you can't really get a feel from the pictures of the sheer size of these crocs. I mean, I've seen great white sharks up close, and these things are like that size, almost. With feet. Webbed feet. They are insane.
They kill at will, basically. One could just sit there and chomp on each wildebeest that comes within its reach. Many of them do. There's this part where the river turns, downstream from one of the most popular crossings. The crocs often kill more than they could possibly eat and then let the dead float downstream. The dead then get caught in an eddy at the turn in the river, by the hundreds, when the migration is on. The stench of hundreds of bloating, rotting wildebeest carcasses can be smelled miles away. For the crocs, its just leftovers.
posted by allkindsoftime at 9:13 AM on August 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
They kill at will, basically. One could just sit there and chomp on each wildebeest that comes within its reach. Many of them do. There's this part where the river turns, downstream from one of the most popular crossings. The crocs often kill more than they could possibly eat and then let the dead float downstream. The dead then get caught in an eddy at the turn in the river, by the hundreds, when the migration is on. The stench of hundreds of bloating, rotting wildebeest carcasses can be smelled miles away. For the crocs, its just leftovers.
posted by allkindsoftime at 9:13 AM on August 22, 2012 [2 favorites]
Imagine what you could make selling meat freezers to crocodiles.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:15 AM on August 22, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 9:15 AM on August 22, 2012 [5 favorites]
Don't be ridiculous, the real money is in those jerky machines.
posted by elizardbits at 9:23 AM on August 22, 2012
posted by elizardbits at 9:23 AM on August 22, 2012
Imagine what you could make selling meat freezers to crocodiles.
Not a lot, I suspect. They don't operate any form of transactional currency that can be exchanged for our own. Their front legs ill-suited to tasks requiring dexterity and strength, such as opening a vacuum-sealed freezer door. Crocodiles also have limited options for access to electricity. In addition, you'd have to use field sales exclusively as crocodiles have no fixed address recognised by the Postal Corporation of Kenya.
This would push up both the cost of sales and create an unsustainably high price premium. Furthermore, studies by the Actuarial Society of Kenya have shown that unsolicited field sales to wild animals in the Mara is one of the highest risk professions in Kenya, second only to Expat Outreach Coordinator for Blanke Bevrydingsbeweging and being a bicycle roadside repairman.
posted by MuffinMan at 9:38 AM on August 22, 2012 [11 favorites]
Not a lot, I suspect. They don't operate any form of transactional currency that can be exchanged for our own. Their front legs ill-suited to tasks requiring dexterity and strength, such as opening a vacuum-sealed freezer door. Crocodiles also have limited options for access to electricity. In addition, you'd have to use field sales exclusively as crocodiles have no fixed address recognised by the Postal Corporation of Kenya.
This would push up both the cost of sales and create an unsustainably high price premium. Furthermore, studies by the Actuarial Society of Kenya have shown that unsolicited field sales to wild animals in the Mara is one of the highest risk professions in Kenya, second only to Expat Outreach Coordinator for Blanke Bevrydingsbeweging and being a bicycle roadside repairman.
posted by MuffinMan at 9:38 AM on August 22, 2012 [11 favorites]
Crocodiles also have limited options for access to electricity.
Furthermore, its a highly competitive market as Kenya is the world's 2nd largest - by both install base as well as annual growth rate - market for solar home systems in the world. After China of course as #1.
posted by infini at 9:44 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
Furthermore, its a highly competitive market as Kenya is the world's 2nd largest - by both install base as well as annual growth rate - market for solar home systems in the world. After China of course as #1.
posted by infini at 9:44 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
You're assuming that crocodiles aren't simply rubes.
posted by shakespeherian at 9:47 AM on August 22, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 9:47 AM on August 22, 2012 [3 favorites]
Its those assumptions about their potential target audience that has drowned many a n00b startup.
posted by infini at 9:50 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by infini at 9:50 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
Holy shit photo #5.
I'd get that thing on your lip checked out if I were you.
posted by jimmythefish at 10:11 AM on August 22, 2012
I'd get that thing on your lip checked out if I were you.
posted by jimmythefish at 10:11 AM on August 22, 2012
At the risk of being a tad sizeist, that croc could actually stand to miss a meal or two. Yow.
posted by Gator at 10:28 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Gator at 10:28 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]
Is it safe for squeamish people?
posted by francesca too at 1:33 PM on August 22, 2012
posted by francesca too at 1:33 PM on August 22, 2012
Mmmm...wildebeest...zebra...
posted by numes with an s at 1:37 PM on August 22, 2012
posted by numes with an s at 1:37 PM on August 22, 2012
Is it safe for squeamish people?
No. The crocs'll eat them too.
posted by LordSludge at 2:08 PM on August 22, 2012 [4 favorites]
No. The crocs'll eat them too.
posted by LordSludge at 2:08 PM on August 22, 2012 [4 favorites]
Take that mammals!
I always find it curious how selective people are in their empathy for animals.
If these were pictures of cats being torn apart by dogs, this wouldn't be posted as a cute story with a quirky headline and lots of LOLs; it would be horrific, NSFL stuff, most likely flagged and removed.
posted by dontjumplarry at 4:53 PM on August 22, 2012
I always find it curious how selective people are in their empathy for animals.
If these were pictures of cats being torn apart by dogs, this wouldn't be posted as a cute story with a quirky headline and lots of LOLs; it would be horrific, NSFL stuff, most likely flagged and removed.
posted by dontjumplarry at 4:53 PM on August 22, 2012
The difference is everyone likes crocodiles. Who wouldn't want a pet crocodile?
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 5:22 PM on August 22, 2012
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 5:22 PM on August 22, 2012
Jesus. Makes swimming laps much less seemingly onerous.
posted by OmieWise at 5:36 PM on August 22, 2012
posted by OmieWise at 5:36 PM on August 22, 2012
"Tell us again about Bogie and Hepburn...", courtesy of The Cartoon Bank.
posted by cenoxo at 8:44 PM on August 22, 2012
posted by cenoxo at 8:44 PM on August 22, 2012
I find the phrase "circle of life" to be about used up
posted by Redhush at 11:47 AM on August 23, 2012
posted by Redhush at 11:47 AM on August 23, 2012
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Of course, once the zebras and wildebeests figure out how to build bridges, it's pretty much all over. Transportation engineering is the great evolutionary leveler.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:37 AM on August 22, 2012 [1 favorite]