Tuesday, March 6, 2012

BLACK RIVER SAFARI TOUR

Aboard one of Black River safari boats

Black River is the longest navigable river in Jamaica.  Its name refers to the darkness of the river bed caused by thick layers of decomposing vegetation or peat.  Black River has a rich ecological environment primarily composed of mangroves with long areal roots that serves as habitat to over 100 species of bird, fish and other freshwater creatures, as well as American crocodiles.


I learned in this tour that due to the large amount of methane the peat gives off, Black River experiences a lot of spontaneous combustion wherein some parts of the river would regularly just burst into fire spontaneously.  In fact, when we were doing the tour, we saw a big smoke coming from a far off spot, and our tour guide said that was spontaneous combustion in action.

Now, the fun part of this tour was when we got to meet and greet the numerous resident crocs of Black River.  These large aquatic reptiles are like pets to the locals particularly the tour guides.  The crocs have names and are well taken care of, I could tell.  While on tour, the guides would call out their names, and would feed them with raw chicken meat once they appear in the water.  So that kind of explains why the crocs are not too shy in showing themselves and approaching tour boats because they actually get good treats!


George is a pretty big and fat crocodile.  He was the first of the many to say "hi" and wag its spiky tail to us.  He was friendly.  It didn't take a lot of coaxing from our tour guides for him to come near us.

We then got to a spot where there are more than one resident crocodiles.  According  to our tour guides, that's kind of unusual since crocodiles are territorial animals.  There, we met Tom and Jerry.  Apparently, they always fight and chase each other, hence they were branded with those names.  I was amazed because our tour guides were able to differentiate Tom from Jerry as how your would be able to with your own dogs!  Jerry, I think, is the smaller and thinner of the two.

At one point, our tour guides yelled out different names but there was no sight of a croc nor a single scaly snout poked out of the water.  Our smart tour guide then quipped, "If nobody's home, you can jump on the water for a swim." LOL.  He then added, "I would love to volunteer myself but these crocs like imported meat - white meat.  They will just ignore me."  Haha!

Before you think of that as a good but silly joke, guess what? One of the reviews I read about this tour is that there's one group who actually went into the water for a swim.  The tour guide apparently initiated jumping into the water and then about half of the tour group followed.  They even have pictures while they were in the water!  Isn't that nuts?  Swim in a river full of crocodiles?  Crazy!

Anyway, another thing I learned from our tour guide is that crocs are nocturnal hunters.  They are not quite dangerous during daylight as they are at night.  Our tour guide said that it's a different story at nighttime.  Nobody goes near the river when it's dark.  So, I guess, that explains how those tourist mustered the courage and managed to swim during the tour.  But still, I don't think I'm daredevil enough to do that ☻

So, that's about it.  I hope you enjoyed this post, and if you want to read more of my Jamaica trip or other travel stories, you can find them here in my blog under this label:  TUESDAY TRAVEL

Until my next travel story! Ciao :)

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My share for:

28 comments:

  1. waaahhh... bagay na bagay ang name na tom and jerry... parang di ko ata kaya lumundag sa tubig pag alam kong may crocs..scary... isa pa hindi din ako sanay mag swim kaya delikado pag may lumapit.. hahaha.. kakatuwa naman ang adventure nyo ate KM.. :D

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  2. I really enjoyed reading your post especially with the tom and jerry part, lol I could imagine the cat and the mouse and how they fight and get naughty with each other lol thanks for the visit for my Tuesday Travel I hope you don't mind to visit my other blog, thanks!

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  3. was here paying a visit.

    wow! that quite an amazing tour u got there. scarry with that crocodile down there

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  4. hehhe, that's too cute,they have name,I'm still scared with them KM,even they looks like friendly.here's my post if you like to check.

    Regarding your questions, I got complimentary coz my blog is about family travel with kids, and I am affiliated in some of the website in my other blogs.

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  5. Believe naman talaga ako KM sa mga adventures niyo ni Doc. Ako adventurous din pero hindi ko talaga ma-take kapag snake and crocs na pinag-uusapan :-/

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  6. wow... ang ganda ng tour na to.. kaso prang hnd ko kaya yong crocodiles bka lumukso.. hehehe.. nice posts...

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  7. Gorgeous captures KM! Kakatakot naman ang mga crocs hehehe.

    Late visiting from Watery Wednesday, hope you can visit my Water Fountain, entry. Thanks in advance.

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  8. how fun! sexy nang model eh....:)

    thanks for joining BPC!

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  9. It's cute that ths crocs have names hehe.

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  10. woohoo! those crocodiles are big Sis Karen :-) that is a fun and full of adventures safari tour :-) you look sexy as always :-) Visiting late from #70 of Blog Photo Challenge, hope that you can return the visit too.

    Visiting late from #70 of BPC, hope that you can return the visit too.

    http://www.sportyjess.com/playing-badminton-with-a-friend-at-the-backyard/

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  11. ang kulit ng mga crocs!!! tom and jerry talaga?? from your story, i can say that it was really fun, plus the tour guide... i can really imagine him... bpc 70 visit.

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  12. what a fun and scary tour! Hindi kaya ang mga crocs..katakot. visiting through Tuesday Travels.

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  13. mine is up http://www.tipsandexperience.com/2012/03/tt-mt-laguna.html

    visited here and commented already a last week :D

    nways, this place must be rich with marine life

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  14. oh hindi!!!! hindi ko ata kaya lumapit sa crocs! mygash!
    Super late visiting from BPC # 70...have a nice day! My BPC 70

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  15. what a great adventure KM! im scared to get near those crocs! u are very brave. =)

    late visit here from last week Travel Tuesday
    http://ourtravelsthrumylens.com/the-old-cape-henry-lighthouse/

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  16. Awww! That was really a fun tour! I enjoyed my virtual share of this; thanks a lot for sharing, KM!

    Thanks, as always for joining Tuesday Travels!

    Visiting for last week's TT as a host! Hope you don't stop joining! :)

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  17. love the yellow top Sis Karen :-) you look gorgeous :-) Visiting from MYM, hope that you can return a yellow visit too.

    http://www.homecookingwithjessy.com/little-bites-banana-muffin/

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  18. oh yes I enjoyed reading this post...did you say crocodiles? hahaha...hi there Tom, Jerry and George...haha...blessed Thursday sexy...

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  19. Quite an experience getting an intimate view of crocs from a safe place!

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  20. Very interesting for them to name the crocs Tom, Jerry and George. Hahaha, would they respond if their names are called out?

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  21. Say hi to Tom, Jerry & George :)
    I'm afraid of crocs.

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  22. OMG that is huge hahaha!! At may name pa ha lol! I like your hair so shiny and straight parang model nang pantene ^_^ Thanks for linking Water World Wednesday

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  23. What a fun tour! I would have been so afraid of the crocs but I think it's fun that hey had names and came to greet everyone.

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