Crocodylus niloticus
—
Nile Crocodile
Subspecies I've seen:
![](../images/herps/thumbnails/010033_Nile_crocodile.jpg)
C. n. africanus
East African Crocodile
Crocodylus niloticus africanus
—
East African Crocodile
![East African Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus africanus)](../images/herps/standard/008153_Nile_crocodile.jpg)
Finch Hatton's is scenically located around a series of ponds full of crocodiles, hippos, and turtles. This small crocodile, maybe 3 feet long, napped on the shore near our tent. At night we watched it patrol the pond via flashlight.
![East African Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus africanus)](../images/herps/standard/010033_Nile_crocodile.jpg)
![East African Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus africanus)](../images/herps/standard/010041_Nile_crocodile.jpg)
![East African Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus africanus)](../images/herps/standard/010043_Nile_crocodile.jpg)
The Mara river is chock-full of large crocodiles waiting for some silly wildebeest to try to migrate across. We were not fortunate enough to see a crossing (or a chomping), but we did see plenty o' well-fed crocs.
Online references:
- Nile Crocodile account on The Reptile Database
- Nice account of this species from the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Printed references:
- Branch, B. 1998. Field Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa, third revised edition
- Glaw, F., Vences, M. 1994. A Fieldguide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar, Second Edition
- Obst, F. J., Richter, K., Jacob, U. 1988. The Completely Illustrated Atlas of Reptiles and Amphibians for the Terrarium
- Spawls, S. 2017. A Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Maasai Mara
- Spawls, S., Howell, K., Hinkel, H., Menegon, M. 2018. A Field Guide to East African Reptiles, 2nd edition