Review: Swimming With Crocodiles by Will Chaffey.

This is a true story of adventure and survival. The first half of the book was slow pace and not really exciting as the second half which was worth the read. Will Chaffey starts his story about the last two years of high school and how he liked to pull pranks, joke around, and just getting fair grades to be able to graduate. He had sent applications out to many colleges but didn’t get any response, which the reader will find out why near the end of the book. Many of his friends were accepted and were all heading to different colleges after the summer break. Will wasn’t really in a hurry to go to college and his parents were disappointed especially when he announced he was going to Australia hoping to find a purpose in life and have some fun along the way.

Once he got to Australia he worked odd jobs for spending money and after a couple of months he met Jeff, an enigmatic older wanderer, who was an expert on reptiles and plants. With funding from an Australian Geographic magazine, Will and Jeff devised a travel plan to explore the remote Prince Regent River, Australia’s Grand Canyon, on a dangerous expedition to photograph animals of near distinction and try to find a King Cobra, known to man but never photographed before. Their journey took them to the hard outback of Australia where Rain Forest is so dense and vast with death looming around every corner, between every step, hanging from trees and vines, and whatever lingers on the saltwater shores and what submerges secretly in the river beds may be the cause of the last breath they take. They needed to be well prepared for the climate, the terrain with provisions as; water, food, clothing and foot gear. However, Will was not taking this journey seriously until the second month when they were lost, running out of food, and having a hard time finding good water.

Will Chaffey style and twist of humor does enhance the story at times. They always tried to stay near water but sometime they got sidetracked. Will loved the water and every chance he got he went swimming with the crocodiles like the title of the book says. However, a large saltwater crocodile will kill you given the chance but freshwater crocodiles are not man eaters, but they might bite you just out of curiosity, but rarely molest a human. So, this was new information for me but I still won’t swim with the creatures….

Will was also informative about Aboriginal life that once inhabited this area, the information on the herpetology, botany, the Australian history, and his perception of the beauty of life and the natural world was fascinating to read about. However, the story should have started with the second half because of adventure through the Outback’s of Australia was exciting, intriguing, and a straightforward seriousness of being prepared to take a journey of this nature. Will Chaffey went back to America after a year in Australia.


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