COUNTRY DIARY
‘Crocodile!” squealed Ludo, his eyes on stalks. Ever since I spent last summer scuba diving with Nile crocodiles in Botswana and Saltwater crocodiles in the Northern Territory in Australia for my new BBC Two series Swimming with Crocodiles, I have been known as “Crocodile Daddy”. It may have something to do with the large shiny crocodile tooth that I found on the river bed of the Okavango Delta, that now has pride of place on the shelf above Ludo’s cot, or the photograph of the rescued crocodile I named after him, or perhaps it is just because his favourite book of the moment is The Selfish
Crocodile, but Ludo, like his father, is rather obsessed with the ancient predator. Last week he finally got his first glimpse of a real one – not in Africa or Australia, but on the shores of the River Thames, at the London Aquarium.
Children are fickle creatures: Dippy the Dinosaur and Ricky the Rockhopper Penguin were soon forgotten as Charlie the Crocodile became his new best friend.
He carefully examined the half-submerged reptile before moving on to the piranha. I can still remember my fear the first time I swam in an Amazonian river in Guyana, and the fear that I would be eaten alive by these carnivorous fish. “Careful, Iona,” he warned his little sister, safely attached to my chest in her baby harness. Next we moved on to the sharks, which were circling around their giant tank with their toothy grins.
Ludo pressed his little nose to the glass and remained rooted to the spot until he got dizzy. There is something really rather beautiful about the movement of sharks underwater. Earlier this year, I pulled out of a dive in Western Australia due to a recent spate of fatal shark attacks, but here, in London, with my family at my side, they suddenly didn’t look quite so scary. “Sharon the Shark” we christened her.
Before we left, we passed the last exhibit, the penguins. “Penguiiiin!” he squealed with delight. Maybe he is loyal after all. Next week I’ll be back on the road again as I head to Thailand where, if I’m lucky, I’ll meet another crocodile and get a photo for Ludo.