The first flight attempt to AvuAvu near Lauvi lagoon was a failure: it is indeed hard to reach the Weathercoast of Guadalcanal in a small plane … due to weather! The local “airport terminal” there does not have a radio so there was no way to know that a huge rain cloud had formed, so when the plane arrived on the south Eastern side of the island, after flying over 1800m high hills, it was hit by a squall and the pilot had to climb high to escape the cloud. It was raining in the plane, which attest for the visibility at the airfield! So the pilot turned back as he was low in fuel.
Second attempt two days later was successful and the mass of pelican cases was happily transferred by quad and canoe to the small house of our host Fred Laku located on s trip of sand between the beach and Lauvi lagoon. A comfortable spot with an outdoor kitchen but the insects made the hammock in the garden more appealing!
Two canoe reccies proved that looking for a crocodile in the lagoon was like searching for a needle in a haystack, despite the fact that the four square kilometres body of water contains about 1500 of the buggers. The heavy rain had made the water level rise, removing any beach or visible haul out spot for them.
The lagoon from the air
vegetation not unlike the australian coast
One large dominant crocodile from the lagoon was recently killed by the locals and RAMSI police force: they baited a large hook with a dead dog, the crocodile ate it and later the RAMSI came and shot it. His skin was so thick that the bullets bounced several time. It was 15 feet long and when they open its tummy, the bone remains of two recent human victims were revealed. No doubt this crocodile deserved his fate. About 50 people are killed every year by crocodiles in the Solomons. See other blog entries about the problem (in May)
The crocodiles do not find enough food in the lagoon and are now crossing into the sea to find some other river deltas along the coast, where people live and have pigs and dogs (potential preys for the crocodiles).
Exploring the small island opposite the lagoon, we found that another large croc had elected his territory in the coral lagoon recently formed when the island was born 30 years ago in an earthquake. The thick and bushy vegetation and steep beach attest of the recent uplifting: before 1977 the island was a reef, emerging at low tide, and does not appear on marine charts!
look closer: it's camouflaged
The crocodile hauled out on the beach, making it easy to film and over a couple of days got accustomed to our presence. This first – and last!- shot marked the end of a 3000 miles crocodile search in the Solomons, yay!
some basket making session ... to prevent boredom...
