In many ways, the Toyota Land Cruiser and Toyota Hilux are the unofficial vehicles of Africa. The robust trucks are used for civil service, delivery, personal vehicles, safaris, and sometimes even to fight wars. You know who doesn’t normally get to enjoy the trucks as they lack both the requirement to deliver items and the ability to take part in mechanized combat? Crocodiles!
That doesn’t seem fair. Many tourists flock to Africa to grab a glimpse of the mighty Nile crocodile, which can reach 20 feet long and weigh up to 1,300 pounds. They are fierce predators, to be sure, but those stubby little legs are terrible for walking long distances. What if the crocodiles want a closer look at a tourist? What if they want to see a performance of the Tanzania Philharmonic Society?
Something must be done, and I’m excited to announce that a group of Swiss tourists and their driver donated a lightly used Toyota Land Cruiser to a group of crocodiles taking part in the Great Wildebeest Migration in Serengeti National Park this Sunday.
There’s even video on Instagram:
View this post on Instagram
Generosity comes in all forms, and this gesture is truly a beautiful sight to behold. The whole concept of the safari is itself pregnant with potential conflicts and moral quandaries. While safaris themselves can help the local economy and enable governments to fund the protection of animals, it’s the strong interest from, often, European and American tourists that have created the need for that protection in the first place.
Tourists have started asking themselves hard questions about the practice, and there’s been a growing movement by some to utilize ethical safari tourism. Call it being woke, I just call it common courtesy. We have only one planet, and we have to share. I live in New York, and sometimes it’s more convenient to cross Times Square, which is its own sort of nature documentary come to life due to all the out-of-towners. I’m usually happy to welcome these visitors, and I’m proud to say I’ve gone almost five months without punching a tourist standing completely still and waving a giant bag from the M&M Store right in front of the entrance to the 1-2-3 train at 7th and 41st Street.
As the video shows, this was a fairly spontaneous incident, with the tourists quickly jumping from the Land Cruiser before it dives into the Mala River. I suppose they saw the splendor of nature and were overwhelmed with a magnanimous spirit before they could formulate a better plan.
According to The Tanzania Times, neither the driver nor any of the passengers were injured during the impromptu donation, though the management of the Tanzania National Parks didn’t seem happy with the way it all went down, warning drivers to “read the Code of conduct book from TATO every now and then to remind themselves how great and important they are to the industry.”
Reached for comment, a local crocodile said they were grateful for the Toyota, but were actually hoping to get a Rivian.
Top photo: Africa_Global_News/Instagram
My safari vehicle a few years ago was the driver’s personal Nissan Patrol that he hacked up and put a raised roof so we could gawk at the lions more easily. I always thought those fancy tarted-up Land Cruisers were a bit kitsch. Glad the tourists came to their senses and ditched the thing.
It’s not just safaris, all tourism is increasing global warming. We need to ban passenger airplanes and cruise ships and ban all tourism based international travel right now.
I’ve walked to Italy, and Scotland, and a friend of mine just cycled from the UK to Spain. Let’s not ban all tourism based international travel.
That’s fair, there is definitely other forms of transportation than airplanes and cruise ships. I guess we can allow EV trains, cars and nuclear or sailing ships too.
I just don’t want the earth to be destroyed in 20 years just because someone wanted to see Rome or something.
Rome is already pretty much destroyed by all the people trying to see Rome. You have to try to imagine what it would be like if it weren’t constantly packed full of too many people.
“Reached for comment, a local crocodile said they were grateful for the Toyota, but were actually hoping to get a Rivian.”
I think mostly they were hoping for that creamy center.
Now where would a crocodile charge an EV?
Yeah, this would never work at scale.
electric eels, duh.
Can’t wait to see this truck show up on FB Marketplace.
(“Lightly used, custom croc skin upholstery, no low-ballers – I know what I got!’)
I think the problem is way more about the poachers than the typical tourists.
But tourists are an easy target for cheap criticism. Local poachers and corrupt governments are not.
I don’t disagree. 🙁
Or they could have just called 1-800-Cars-4-Crocs.
*Kars 4 Kroks
I was at that exact spot in 2023. The vehicles are driven by professional guides with years of experience and a complex, multi-year, and extensive certification process. That specific area has restrictions on where they can drive and park, and have expensive fines if the guides don’t follow them, I know this because my guide got a fine for parking in the wrong spot! The drivers work on tips (only/mostly), so they are probably looking at the loss of 10-14 days of income, in addition to any fines and vehicle damage. There isn’t enough information to know what happened, but it’s likely an extremely, extremely costly mistake for that driver, like multiple years of income lost and possible loss of their license to guide in the park.
When looking at GNU, it’s better never to Stall Man. I’ll see myself out…
I hope RMS’s cancer is in remission. For all his faults (and there are many) the man has made significant contributions to the field.
I am not often one for guilt, so the idea of a guilt-wracked safari had never occurred to me.
The last one I was on was one I drove to, so for the guilt-prone I suppose it would be low-guilt.
The river gods demand tribute. Can we throw some tourists in the water to get the Land Cruiser back?
Should have used a Range Rover, they’re amphibious exploring vehicles, part of what makes them such good starter cars
“almost five months without punching a tourist”
Matt, you’re a saint. A damned saint.
Time Square tourists are nothing.
Girls in Koreatown to sidewalks is like Ever Given to the Suez Canal.
In Chicago we’re fairly considerate to people like that. We move to the edge of the side walk, turn our body so it angles away from the street, and then walk right through them so they at least land on the sidewalk instead of the street.
Perhaps the driver simply had never noticed that the word “Land” appears prominently in the vehicle’s name.
As the video shows, this was a fairly spontaneous incident, with the tourists quickly jumping from the Land Cruiser before it dives into the Mala River.
“While the other kids were rocking ’round the clock
We were hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock”
From Troopy to soupy.
Apropos of nothing, you know what this made me think about? Chocodiles. When was the last time you saw one of these? I think they may still be around, sold under another name. Good ol’ Chauncey the Crocodile. Bet he’s got a Land Cruiser or maybe one of those Lexus equivalents these days.
At least it wasn’t a Chevrolet Movie The-a-ter. That Interior Crocodile Alligator might have been a bit offensive to the big guys.
I’ll be the one today to complain about instagram. At least put a warning in the title so I don’t waste my time opening the article.
Mocking the death of a Land Cruiser is despicable decadence.
You’d think they learned their lesson last time…https://youtu.be/DnXp6omE5BY
The crocodiles were so pleased to eat the delicious tourists!
Crocodile 1: Is it me, or does this Wildebeest have some kind of metallic aftertaste?
Crocodile 2: Yeah, I haven’t tasted anything this bad since we snagged that politician from Flint.
Reads like a Far Side gag. COTD!
Toyota: let’s go foolish places
Looks like this is upheld across the globe, not just just back home
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/pennsylvania-driver-hospital-suv-tumbles-colorado-mountain-road/
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/driver-colorado-mountain-imogene-pass-sliding-off-icy-road/
Mmmmmm very tasty