Egypt's Nubians Tame Crocodiles for Selfie-Snapping Tourists

Mamdouh Hassan (R) shows a crocodile to visitors at his crocodile terrarium in the Nubian village of Gharb Soheil, on the west bank of the Nile River in southern Egypt | AFP
Mamdouh Hassan (R) shows a crocodile to visitors at his crocodile terrarium in the Nubian village of Gharb Soheil, on the west bank of the Nile River in southern Egypt | AFP
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Egypt's Nubians Tame Crocodiles for Selfie-Snapping Tourists

Mamdouh Hassan (R) shows a crocodile to visitors at his crocodile terrarium in the Nubian village of Gharb Soheil, on the west bank of the Nile River in southern Egypt | AFP
Mamdouh Hassan (R) shows a crocodile to visitors at his crocodile terrarium in the Nubian village of Gharb Soheil, on the west bank of the Nile River in southern Egypt | AFP

Deep in the Nubia, a region along the Nile in southern Egypt, a baby crocodile sits on Mamdouh Hassan's shoulder to wow tourists.

The reptiles are a source of income for Egypt's Nubian minority, with visitors paying to marvel at the tamed creatures.

But beyond bringing in tourist dollars, crocodiles play an important role in the culture of the ethnic group with a history dating to Pharaonic times and its own unique language.

The Nubians traditionally lived along the banks of the Nile in southern Egypt with roots extending into northern Sudan.

In Gharb Soheil, a Nubian village near Aswan, mummified crocodile heads still adorn the doors of the traditional blue and white-domed homes.

Crocodiles represent an important physical totem of blessings in Nubian belief.

In Gharb Soheil a stuffed crocodile on the door shows that the homeowner keeps the large reptiles as pets.

Outside his humble home in the village, Hassan gently rubbed the back of Francesca -- a 1.5-meter (five-foot)-long, 15-year-old crocodile.

"I have raised her since she was born," the 45-year-old said lovingly of his pride and joy.

"She lives on fish, meat, and chicken."

- Pet crocodiles -

During the reign of president Gamal Abdel Nasser, the construction of the Aswan High Dam created a reservoir over traditional Nubian lands.

When Lake Nasser began filling in 1964, 44 Nubian villages were flooded.

While the Nile's crocodiles benefited from the new habitat, Nasser never fulfilled his promise to adequately compensate Nubians with new land.

Instead, about 50,000 Nubians were displaced to villages north of the dam, on the west bank of the Nile near Kom Ombo and Aswan -- a narrow strip of land with limited space for agriculture.

Ever since, Nubians have demanded the return of their lands and have maintained their culture by modernizing their traditions. Keeping crocodiles became a way to supplement incomes and promote their heritage.

Hassan learned to domesticate crocodiles from his father.

"My father was one of the first people in the Nubian village who really pioneered the idea of bringing in crocodiles as pets to lure tourists," he told AFP.

In the 20 years since, he has developed a keen sense for where and when wild crocodile eggs will hatch.

Female crocodiles lay their eggs along the banks of Lake Nasser where Hassan watches for the baby reptiles to emerge before carrying them home.

"The crocodile's aggressive nature is tempered by growing up in the home with us and being cared for," he said.

Francesca is the star of the show in the village, Hassan says. She was named by Italian tourists who enjoyed her sunny personality, so Hassan kept the name.

Visitors snap selfies with the lounging beasts, while the villagers regale the tourists with Nubian folk tales about the crocodiles.

Hany, a tourist from Cairo, was delighted with the spectacle of Hassan opening the crocodiles' mouths wide with his bare hands.

"I came here with my family to spend school holidays, for the kids to enjoy seeing the crocs," the 35-year-old said.

- 'Angels of the Nile' -

For ancient Pharaohs, the crocodile-headed god Sobek embodied the fluid nature of the Nile and was prayed to for protection from the annual floods.

A temple is dedicated to Sobek in Kom Ombo, engraved with pictograms and hieroglyphics detailing the embalming of crocodiles.

To this day, Nubians maintain a tradition of crocodile taxidermy, one that remains true to a centuries-old technique.

"Although we know very well the value of crocodile leather, we do not sell it... we cherish it," Hassan explained.

A dead crocodile is skinned from its gut and filled with straw or sawdust. Large crocodiles take about a month to mummify while a smaller one dries in a few days, Hassan said.

"This is Franco, who died last month," he said of the large mummified head of one of his former pets.

Abdel-Hakim Abdou, a curly-haired, 37-year-old cafe owner who recommends Hassan's terrarium as a must-see tourist attraction, rhapsodized about the importance of crocodiles to Nubians.

"The Nile for the Nubian represents life... everything that roams in it we consider angels," he said.



Rancho Palos Verdes Declares War on Peacocks

A peacock (Getty)
A peacock (Getty)
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Rancho Palos Verdes Declares War on Peacocks

A peacock (Getty)
A peacock (Getty)

Spotting a trademark colorful and elegant bird on the Palos Verdes Peninsula can be exciting for visitors or vacationers, but as the peacock population has rocketed, officials say some of those birds have got to go.

The Los Angeles Times wrote Wednesday that this fall, Rancho Palos Verdes will restart a rarely used program to trap and relocate peafowl from the peninsula in an effort to curb the growing population and limit the animals’ nuisance behaviors with a goal of trimming the numbers by about 30%.

Although some residents are still enamored by the fowl - Rancho Palos Verdes resident Efran Conforty told KCAL News they are the “best neighbors” - the birds have also attracted a lot of haters.

City Council members said they received many letters in support of the trapping and removal program, some that even asked the city to expand it.

“They’re running across the road all the time - it’s dangerous,” said Council member George Lewis at a May meeting.

The council voted unanimously to reinstate the program in the three neighborhoods where officials recorded the highest number of birds.

“It is not the city’s intent to eradicate the peafowl population, but to manage the population at levels identified in 2000 and to educate the public on how to coexist with the birds,” Megan Barnes, a spokesperson for Rancho Palos Verdes, wrote in a statement.

In Rancho Palos Verdes, the peacock population is the highest it’s been since 2014, when city leaders first decided to look into taking action to curtail the number of the birds due to growing complaints about their noise and other nuisances.

Peacocks make a number of sounds, including a piercing and distinctive scream during mating season and when they perceive a threat.

They also clamber on rooftops and through landscaping, causing damage and leaving waste.