Pranzo

No, here, now tell me that it didn't happen to you: that you never woke up on Sunday morning - or any other day of the week - with the idea of going to photograph a crocodile. Nor with the idea that sooner or later you would happen to go and photograph a crocodile.

So I put my heart at rest. Because it just never happened to me.

And yet

And instead.

The Royal Chitwan National Park is a nature park in southern Nepal, almost on the border with India. And you have to want to go there, because it's not like the road says 'this is where you go to Royal Chitwan National Park': at some point you pass through a bazaar, turn in the middle of the chaos and find yourself in a countryside of ubiquitous buffalo and rice.

The Chitwan National Park is a natural park

A lot of animals live in Chitwan. And their presence is curiously linked to the political situation in Nepal: there is calm and the animals increase, there is guerrilla warfare and instead weapons and poachers increase, resulting in a decrease in fauna. However, as I was saying, there are quite a few animals living in Chitwan: tigers, rhinos, deer, bears, elephants. And crocodiles. Even vain ones. Like this one, showing off its teeth and measurements.

And here we are at the photo: taken from a canoe in which all seven of us were in. Plus rower in the stern (which I never saw because turning around risked dangerously scuffing) and guide in the bow. The canoe sped along the river amid views that I hope this shot lets you imagine. Not that a crocodile was popping up at every corner, we were lucky, that much is clear. But if you happen to be in Nepal, or if you go there on purpose, make a trip to Chitwan. Because how many times in your life have you woken up on a Sunday morning with the idea of going to photograph a crocodile?