08-Jul-2025
Crocodiles! There's something about them, isn't there? You're repelled, and yet you're fascinated.
We've only ever seen one specimen in Kuching itself. But they're definitely around. In fact, the most recent fatal attack in our area was just last month.
Jong's Crocodile Farm is about 30 km south of Kuching. You can get there easily with a Grab, and by dint of walking back to Siburan village, we got home fairly easily as well (I'm not sure how typical that was, but if you're stuck, you can pick up a bus back to Kuching from Siburan).
I'm always a little reticent about "animal attractions", but a friend with a friend who knows about this stuff said that Jong's was well run, so -- why not?
It's the first and largest crocodile-breeding programme in Malaysia. Founder Yong Kian Sen started collecting crocs in 1963, housing them originally on a site on the outskirts of Kuching. The family acquired a property in Siburan in 1979, but it wasn't until 1981 that they had their first breeding success. The current site, much bigger, is spread over 25 acres.
The extent is the first thing that strikes you, actually. But then almost 1,000 crocodiles need a bit of space...
Actually, the size of the grounds is the second thing that strikes you. The first is that MM2H residents can enter at the Malaysian price. This is quite unusual (ie, it's the first time it's happened to us), and all the more welcome for that.
Mr Croc says come along in...
Anyway. Crocs. Actually not just crocs. Gators, too. And gharials:
These are the salties, the estuarine crocodiles that we're most likely to see around here (hopefully in controlled circumstances). You can't help noticing that crocodiles completely lack any sense of personal space...
This is an alligator. Different kind of snout, you see
And these are gharials. Long, thin snout. See what I mean about the personal space thing? They don't have to stack themselves up like this, but they do
The big crocs here are MASSIVE...
This, on the other hand, is a dwarf crocodile
Occasionally, you get genetic anomalies, as here, where the poor guy has no tail. He wouldn't be able to swim, so his chances of getting this big in the wild would presumably be minimal
The grounds are nicely laid out, and to make a break from the big scaly critters, there are a few more homely ones on display too, in fairly large enclosures:
Steve!
A binturong. They're sometimes known as bearcats, which -- as our friend always points out -- is silly, because they're not bears and not cats...
A little later, and the binturong is pretending to be a sloth
Iguanas are always picturesque
Yeah, that's the way to tackle your breakfast...
Porcupine! Can't help thinking of the teenage punk rocker in Sing...
The peacocks wander around with you in the big enclosure. This one was curious about everything, including shirtsleeves
Bad hair day...
Arapaima feeding time. These are girt big fish...
But everywhere, everywhere, over every wall, in every pool, there are crocs...
They're surprisingly bendy...
Not logs...
By now it's nearly feeding time. Two hours have slipped by without our really noticing...
Over one of the big ponds they've rigged up two pulleys. From these they dangle chicken carcases, which they wind out over the water. Now, if a croc doesn't want to bother leaping for these, that's entirely his/her decision. One or two were definitely: Yawn, wake me up when you've got some club sandwiches on a tray. But quite a number were very happy to hurl themselves into the air in pursuit of some nice fresh chicken a la pulley.
And it genuinely is spectacular... I had no idea they could do so much verticality... You can see them kind of tipping back on their tails -- at really quite an angle -- before launching themselves powerfully upwards. They don't always get their prey first time -- and the snapping shut of those empty crocodile jaws is a very memorable sound -- but they're generally up for another go:
While we were watching the crocs working for their lunch, we got talking to a young woman from the Krokodille Zoo in Denmark. She and her father (who also works for the zoo) were here in Sarawak to accompany two crocs back to northern Europe.
And like any self-respecting animals, the chosen pair had intuited that Something Was Up, and had submerged themselves:
Crocodiles can stay under water for about two hours...
Very definitely doing their "we are out" thing...
Preparations for rehoming crocodiles
We thought we might be allowed to watch the process of getting the crocs from the pond to the crate, but no, we were politely ushered off on safety grounds... Understandable.
They're both in their mid-40s, these about-to-be-migrant crocs. But they're likely to live a long time in captivity, so it's not too late to be making a new start in another country. They've got a long plane journey in front of them, though. Don't envy them that...
Anyway, good luck, guys! We'll try to visit you in Denmark! We'll bring you some Sarawak laksa!
We tend to think of crocs as kind of inert (and the way they just freeze, mouth open, limbs any which way, is distinctly creepy). But our Danish acquaintance told us that the behaviour of her charges noticeably changed during the covid lockdown, suggesting an awareness of a different environment. And their body language is a clear sign of what they'll tolerate from their keeper and what they won't.
By the time we left, the sprinklers were on in the smaller croc enclosures. Cool and green, it looked quite inviting down there -- apart from the presence of animals with lightning-quick reactions and jaws like meat-grinders...
It was an interesting morning out.
I'll leave you with some reptilian reminiscences from yesteryear.