This article is a part of a regular column called 'Tarzan calling…' that Harvey writes for a local Newspaper.

 22 October : Our first crocodile trip of the season. (Neil and I take tourists on this crocodile 'n' birdwatching boat trip which we call Croc-o-do-be-doo!) Twice a week, we ferry up and down the Cumbarjua river. Today we spot two crocs, and hello, the Osprey is back. So are we, so are we...

 24 October : At 2 am, a villager in Carambolim is woken up by his dog's persistent barking. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined the intruder - outside his gate sits a 1.9 meters crocodile! A hue and cry is raised, the villager summons his friends, and somehow they manage to truss up the reptile.

In the morning the Forest Department is informed. And, in turn, we. Neil, Rahul, my brother Brian and I rush to the spot. When we reach there, the Forest Department already has the crocodile safely in their truck. We take it to the Cumbarjua river. Before releasing it, I take the permission of the Deputy Conservator of forests and cut one of its scales, effectively tagging it (as per a simple code shown to us by Romulus Whittaker, who runs the Madras Crocodile Bank). The crocodile had probably wandered up from the Carambolim lake, 200 meters away. Three cheers for the youth who didn't harm the croc!

 8 November : We assist in the raid of a crocodile held captive at Nuyem. This 159 centimeters croc was headed for the cooking pot. The timely intervention of the Forest Department changed all that.

 12 November : The crocodile is released back into the Cumbarjua. It seems reluctant to leave and Neil is forced to prod it on its way. It gives him a hurt look and then dives into the water. We tag this one too.

In the night, Neil gets a call from a friend in Porvorim. They have a python which seemed determined to move into their building premises despite the harsh welcome it met. We go to Porvorim and pick up the python. Despite being beaten with a stick it showed little damage. I keep the python in a trunk at home.

 13 November : Neil goes to pick up Rahul who knows a lot more about snakes than we do, whilst I head for Bondla, to make arrangements for a birdwatching trip we have on the 16th - did I tell you, we also take tourists birdwatching, ala 'Wings N Things' !.

On the way back, I stop at the Ciba-Geigy factory which has a fascinating freshwater lake, visited by many migratory birds. At the gate, someone has cruelly tied up a python with a wire and left it to die. The head is all bloody, the wire chokes it slowly... the python is quite motionless. Already a crowd has assembled, mainly staff of the Ciba-Geigy factory. Can this snake be alive? I untie the wire, the python moves a little, but this is probably the last relexes of a dying animal. Someone fetches water and carefully, I clean the python. It wriggles some more, but is still very sluggish. The factory jeep is called for. A Mr. Godbole directs the driver to take me and the python to a veterinarian, and also offers to pay for any expenses incurred.

At Old Goa a very reluctant doctor emphatically declares that the python's jaw is broken. Of course, he does not want to dirty his hands, so he makes me open its mouth. We then take the python to the veterinary hospital in Tonca, where we are given a different picture.

The vet says that the python is still in a state of shock, and that its jaw is quite all right, thank you. He also tells us that snakes and other lower vertebrates have great regenerative powers. Sure enough, later in the evening, Neil goes to check on the python and it bites him !

We release the first python into a nearby lake. The second one now lives in the trunk. This trunk has quite a story tell. It has harboured a crocodile, turtles, and now pythons!

 19 November : The python recovers very quickly. Its next victim is Rahul. Neil and I can't stop kidding him about it. We set it free before there are any further casualties! The previous night Neil, Rahul, my brother Brian and I go to the Fort Aguada helipad and watch the Leonids meteorite shower. No matter what the papers and astronomers say, we enjoyed it!

 23 November: Our crocodile trip sets a record, with us spotting 12 Muggers. One of them, a huge 3.5 meter croc, basks on the bank with its jaws wide open. I am depressed. I forgot to bring my camera!

 30 November : I get a card from Sandra, an American backpacker who came on our croc trip last year. She's still travelling and has lots of tales to tell - a ten day trek in the Himalayas, a five day whitewater rafting trip, scuba diving in Malaysia, swimming with a 5 meter whale shark off the coast of Sumatra. At the moment she is still there, working at an Orangutan rehabilitation center.

 3 December : It's a full moon night, and turtle nesting time! Neil and I spend the night at Morjim beach with two British girls, hoping to spot the Olive Ridley turtle as it comes up to nest.

The night itself is wonderful, we keep a low fire going. Alone on the beach watching the sea, marveling at the magnetic force which draws turtles to this same spot year after year, is strange.

No turtles come up, but it is not really that important anyway. Much later, on a far away lonely beach in South Goa, after many full moon nights, I finally get to watch turtle hatchlings make their way to the sea, while Neil persists at Morjim beach and also sees a turtle come up to nest…

And life goes on, in all its myriad colours. See you next week if the crocodiles don't get me !