By Caroline Popovic
In 2005, rumours started circulating. A crocodile had been sighted in the mangroves and the tributaries of the Lezarde River in Lamentin, the second largest town of Martinique.
Ten years later, Georges, so christened by the people of Lamentin, had grown. Sightings became more frequent.
In 2016, fruitless attempts were made to capture Georges. Experts were brought in. The crocodile was nowhere to be found.
In 2021, the town hall of Lamentin tried unsuccessfully to trap the crocodile.
In 2023, more specialists arrived.
For days they patrolled the canals in the mangroves and the tributaries of the Lezarde River in and around the busy town of Lamentin.
They searched for Georges near the international airport, the marina at Port Cohé and the area near the busy commercial centre called Place d’Armes.
When the experts left, Georges showed up. Crowds came to watch.
The police had to keep people in check. Everyone wanted to be the first to post pictures of Georges on social media.
The crocodile’s most spectacular appearance occurred on Tuesday 10 September 2024.
Georges emerged to take a sun bath. After several days of torrential rain, the crocodile needed to dry out.
The reptile lay on the banks of a canal that runs parallel to the busy main road that runs from Lamentin to the airport.
The aquatic centre and indoor sports facility are nearby as well as several business houses and supermarkets.
Photographs show Georges, suntanning , mouth wide open to show off a magnificent dentition. Georges is a big reptile.
The experts who have been able to study Georges confirm that the animal is in fact a 20 year old female.
Georges is either a Nile crocodile from Africa or a Morelet crocodile from Central America. Both have a lifespan of 70 years.
According to the rumours, Georges came to Martinique with a member of the military who had to get rid of the reptile because of an overseas mission.
Efforts to capture Georges are ongoing.
It’s 2024 and that’s the best picture yall could get of Mr Lacoste?
Nice one @Anonymous
Mr Lacoste lmphaso hopefully doesn’t take a swim across the channel and come for a visit ….***** lol
@anonymous thanks for the laugh
The lonely crocodile means there will be no proliferation of crocodiles in the area, care must always be exercised in the introduction of non-endemic species, we see what happened when the ‘African” snail was brought here, perhaps inadvertently, and also the monkeys in Barbados.
Salut Georges 🐊🤩