The Travelling Teacher: El Salvador - If You See a Crocodile...

June 2

…take lots of photos because it’s so cute!

A 'cocodrilito': a baby crocodile

A baby croc sunning itself in Barra de Santiago

Hello everyone!

About a year ago, a documentary called El Salvador Untamed was shared on YouTube. The 50 minute video showed a lot of positive and lesser-known, yet fascinating, areas of the country. I added almost every place that Nigel Marven had visited onto my ‘future El Salvador travel’ list on my phone. This weekend gave me the opportunity to visit one of them: Barra de Santiago.

A man fishing in the Barra de Santiago

On a Sunday, it is a little over a 90 minute drive from Santa Tecla

This coastal spit is reasonably well-known. It has pretty beaches with wild Pacific waves. Close to shore, these were fun to play in, resembling being thrown around as if in a washing machine.

Shortly after exiting the water, a large lifeguard - running
with a soda in hand - was running over blowing
his whistle for people to get out of the water

The ocean isn’t what makes this place special, however. That would be its other body of water, sitting about 300 metres inland.

The area was declared a 'Wetland of International Importance' on July 23, 2014

The forest on the right is less than 500 metres away from the beach...

You can hire boats here which take you through the calm inland waters between the settlements of Barra de Santiago and El Zapote. Our boat never reached the latter village, though. We turned right…into the largest mangrove complex in the North Pacific…

Our boat!

I adored the reflections in the still waters

This is a protected area. After paying the entrance fee to the ‘park’ from our boat, we quietly chugged along an ever-narrowing stream, surrounded by chirping birds and long, spindly fingers of mangrove roots.

We were able to pay as residents so it was only $3 per person

Mangrove swamps like this are some of the most
important areas of natural carbon capture on Earth

That was after seeing some other wildlife: specifically, an iguana. It had blended expertly onto the tree branch. I am always amazed by how guides can spot wildlife!

In the wild, on average iguanas live to about 9 years of age

This iguana wasn't as well hidden...

We were here to see something different, though. Something with a bit more…bite…

Adverts by the 'jetty' advertise seeing massive crocodiles

Yes folks, this is the most common area in El Salvador in which to find crocodiles. A few websites claim you can also find alligators, though many others suggest that Florida is the only place where both coexist.

More likely to see a croc than an alligator here!

We saw an adult crocodile…for about half a second. Its head then sank below the surface and our guide informed us that we needed to move. Don’t want to croc to come up next to or under our boat, after all.

Did you see it? It's under the water.

What we saw instead was arguably rarer and more magical. We were looking at a bird from the left side of our boat. Well, I was anyway. The guide had spotted something else on the little tree stumps near it. Some beady eyes…

A croc emerges from the egg measuring 20-30 centimetres

English: crocodile. Spanish: cocodrilo. Looks similar, but
the placing of that R makes it quite tricky to say!

We had chanced upon a float of baby crocodiles (I do love collective nouns for animals). Our guide said that they were probably about one month old.

Crocodiles have lineage to the dinosaurs

Possibly the best moment was when the bird decided to fly elsewhere. Its flapping spooked the little crocs, causing them to practise their synchronised swimming dive into the water. It was only then that we realised there were at least 10, and more likely over 15, crocodiles on that one tree stump.

A group of young hatchling crocs is collectively known as a ‘pod‘ or a ‘crèche‘

Going on safari to witness creatures in their natural habitat is something I miss greatly after living in southern Africa for six years. Different places have different draws. It was therefore nice to spend a little over an hour plodding along up a river channel in relative peace, scanning the mangroves and the water lapping below them for any signs of life.