By Annie Dorasamy
A Reservoir Hills man harvesting vegetables on the banks of Durban's Mgeni River got the fright of his life when a crocodile snapped its jaws centimetres from his hand.
Farmer Nivash Dhookran was alone plucking herbs when the reptile, which had been basking in the sun in the vegetation, suddenly appeared.
"I ran for my life as fast as I could. I didn't think about anything else because I knew it was a crocodile; it was too big to be anything else. If I had stood there for a second longer, it would have eaten me alive and nobody would have known what happened to me," Dhookran said.
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Officials from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife visited Dhook-ran's farm on Friday and were assessing how to trap the crocodile.
Dhookran said one of his gardeners had seen the crocodile two weeks ago, but nobody believed him because there had been no proof.
But when Dhookran was harvesting his crops, his suspicions were confirmed.
"I ran to the top of the bank and called as many people as I could see, even the workers and mechanics at the garage.
"The crocodile continued to lie on the river bank for at least an hour and a half and we managed to take a photo of it with my cellphone," Dhookran said.
He said it was the first time in 37 years that a crocodile had been spotted on the farm.
"I have lived here all my life. There were rumours 20 years ago about crocodiles being in the river, but nobody could provide proof. We have also noticed the carp in the river going crazy, and the water ducks, which were plentiful, have gone missing since the first sighting of the crocodile.
"There are only about three ducks left - the rest probably have been eaten by the crocodile," Dhookran said.
He said his brother tried to net the crocodile, but it escaped and might have moved upstream.
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