Long-time readers will know I have something of a morbid fascination with crocodiles.
Particularly Nile crocodiles.
Not only did I get up close and personal with hundreds of them in Morocco (a sobering experience, let me tell you)…
… but I’ve also binged just about every wildlife clip imaginable on these prehistoric beasts.
And lo and behold — only the other day — I stumbled upon perhaps the rarest sighting ever captured on film. The funny part? It wasn’t even by a wildlife documentarian. It was filmed by an everyday safari-goer who didn’t scream, cry, or holler as this once-in-a-lifetime sighting unfolded (🙏).
Now, before I continue:
If you’re sensitive to the natural (and often brutal) order of the animal kingdom, and only ever view wildlife through the lens of The Lion King…
THEN STOP HERE.
And while you’re at it, ask yourself why in Mordor you signed up to the Legion to get my “gritty” fantasy prequel. Nuttin’ Lion King or Bambi about the stuff that happens in The Divided Region.
Anyway. Back to the clip:
The video opens with a young lion cub at the base of a very steep bank. There was no way it could scale the incline to rejoin its pride, for the ledge was too sheer.
Below the cub?
A crocodile-infested river 🐊
So, what did little Simba do?
It did what any desperate creature would in that bleak scenario — it hugged the muddy edge, tiptoeing just a metre above the waterline, in search of a safe route up the bank.
Then WHAM a crocodile burst from the water.
To my astonishment, the cub dodged it.
Then BAM another croc launched from the water, and again, the cub avoided its jaws.
(Fun fact: crocs have the strongest jaws in the animal kingdom.)
The lion continued traversing the sheer terrain, trying to find a path up to his/her pride, while avoiding yet more crocodiles. I counted five crocs at this point all trying to have a go at this feline.
Still it ran, still it avoided their onslaught, clinging to the edge while only ever being one slip away from death.
Just as it looked like the cub might make it up the bank to safety, a sixth, much larger crocodile burst from the river and snatched it by the paw, dragging it into the murky depths.
Just like that…
Gone.
Brutal. Gripping. Raw.
A sombre, stunned silence enveloped the safari Jeep.
I can only imagine what it must’ve been like to witness that in person. I’m sure spectators were gripped in equal parts awe and heartbreak. While seeing a cub (or any young life) perish is never pleasant, it highlights the unpopular reality our human-engineered societies shield us from:
Nature isn’t always kind.
It’s not picky about who wins and who loses.
But it’s not cruel either. It just is.
For the croc, his/her day ended in triumph. For the cub, tragedy. In the vast majority of situations like this, the cub gets away and the reptile goes another day without a meal (hence why it’s so rare).
In a weird and shameless self-promotional way, that clip reminded me of the world I created in The Divided Region.
I could have very easily gone down the path of cosy fantasy. I like cosy fantasy. But writing only about the pleasantries of life and skipping almost entirely over the grim parts would not only have been a disservice to the story I wanted to tell but also to the reader.
Because just like the real world, Estos has good and evil.
Beauty and brutality.
It has monsters that will kill you and monsters that will save you.
That’s the kind of world The Divided Region represents.
And if that’s the kind of realm you like to disappear to, then you can grab the Starter Bundle right here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/TDR-Bundle
And if you’ve read Books 1-4 already, but not the fifth, you can get your lion paws (too soon?) on The Great Betrayal here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/The-Great-Betrayal
I can’t promise cute and innocent things won’t die, but I can promise it won’t be gratuitously gory or too disturbing to read.
DJJW
P.S. For the wildlife enthusiasts among us, here’s the clip: