« La Vanille Réserve des Mascareignes » deserves to be proud of its exceptional batch of tortoises. It can also boast about its vast collection of insects. However, the crocodiles steal the limelight from the flora and fauna of the park. They are everywhere, even in the kitchen.

There is nothing ordinary about holding a crocodile in one’s hands, and yet, the parks’ visitors can play at being “Crocodile Dundee” long enough for the photos to be taken. This is a unique attraction offered by this park, situated in the south of the island.

To put things back into their true perspective, it has to be said that the crocodiles that one can hold in ones’ hands are babies. In order to avoid any accidents, the saurian is muzzled beforehand. Even so, the contact is impressive.

As far as the older crocodiles are concerned, they lounge about in the pools spread over the park, separated according to their age. From the newly hatched babies through to the large adults, the reserve is home to around 2000 crocodiles.

Most of them are Nile crocodiles, with a large jaw and teeth protruding from their mouths. They can measure up to 3 metres in length, as can be observed when one sees Alphonse, a former inhabitant whose skeleton is exposed in the reserve’s museum.

The crocodiles are not originally from the island. They are the descendants of 85 or so crocodiles that were imported from Madagascar in 1985. The park was founded by two families, the Griffiths and the Rountrees, under the name of “La Vanille Crocodile Parc”. There are also a few Brazilian caimans. They are smaller, their heads are stockier and their mouths hide their teeth.