James Laughlin describes swimming across the Kunaini River on the Angola-Namibia border when crocodiles appeared five meters away. Panic hit, but he realized losing control was more dangerous than the crocs themselves, so he forced himself to think clearly instead.
About 15 years ago.
The Kunaini River (between Angola and Namibia).
About 5 meters.
About 15 years ago, I was on a recce on the Kunaini river, which sits between Angola and Namibia. We were going to cross the river into Angola, swim across the river, big waterfall downstream, big rapids above. And I said, you know, what's a crocodile risk? And said, oh, big rock, big rock, Big rapids upstream, big waterfall downstream. We're fine. The other three of us, we got, you know, swam diagonally, got in line with a rock we were coming towards. Rock. Couldn't have been better when we're about 5 meters away, when there's rock, stood up on four scaly reptilian feet and sinuously slid into the water. And when there's one crop, there's always more than one croc. I started to panic in mid river and then I suddenly realized that it wasn't the croc that was going to get me. The potentially was in the river beneath us. It was my panic that was going to get a grip and drown me. And it was, you know, this seminal moment where I thought, if I don't get control of my own emotions now and my own intellect telling me there's a significant risk, then, you know, it's all going to be indexed.
