subject: A village where Crocodile is the King ! [print this page] A village where Crocodile is the King ! A village where Crocodile is the King !
Ghana, located in West Africa, is an interesting country in many aspects. It was here that the Europeans first came to trade in gold and slaves. Since then the country had a long and eventful relationship with the Western world. But that's not what makes Ghana something special nowadays. It is a remote village, in northern Ghana, called 'Paga' - a peculiar place that appears to defy the laws of nature and, the laws of fear too!
Most of the outside world is unaware of the special but strange relationship that exists here between humans and crocodiles - animals that anyone would run away from. But the people of Paga swim joyfully and wash clothes in the same village pond, which about 100+ crocodiles use as their home-cum-dining room !!!
No one seems to know how long the crocodiles have lived in the pond, or how they got to this landlocked area. But the village folk swear that no one from their village has ever been harmed by the crocodiles --- a fact that may sound unbelievable; as generally crocodiles are known to be notoriously nasty if anyone gets in their way.
Whatever it is... for the people of Paga, these crocodiles are sacred, kingly ones and consider the animals as the souls of their relatives. On the other hand, the crocodiles too don't feel threatened by humans.
Here, natives fish knee-deep next to what may look like logs, even though these "logs" have very sharp teeth.
As visitors began to flock to this fascinating spot, the village's crocodile handlers trained around a dozen of crocodiles making them accustomed to a diet of 'live' chickens.
The chickens are paid by tourists who come from around the world to sit on the crocodiles' backs, pet them and wag their tails........ things that no one will dare to try anywhere else ! Paga's crocodiles also won't mind these 'shows of affection' as they are happy with the live-diet.
Normally, sacrificing these chickens seem to be cruel, but Paga's folk think otherwise as this routine keeps the crocodiles off from killing the village's other pets, entering homes 'looking for food' ..... More than that, the money thus raised from hundreds of tourists helped to support the village day care center. Substantially the land's conditions started improving !
So, the show goes on every day, or at least when visitors drop by... the villagers swim in peace... the tourists are thrilled... the crocodiles are quite content with the arrangement... all is well. Perhaps the only unhappy lot will be the chickens.
