Crocodylus niloticus - The Nile crocodile averages between 4 and 5 meters in length and weighs 410 kilos. Able to dedicate hours waiting for an unsuspecting animal to venture close enough to be snatched by its powerful jaw, the crocodile is an ideal ambush predator. It drags the victim into the water and by holding the animal under water, waits until it drowns. Nile crocodiles have a strict hierarchical order granting the largest crocodile primary basking spots and first access to food.
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The rise and expansionist policy of the neighboring Zulu people threatened the Sotho people. Under the leadership of King Moshoeshoe, the Sotho people began a forced migration into the Northern Drakensberg Mountains. Moshoeshoe unified the scattered remnants into a force able to successfully resisted the Zulu onslaught. In 1868, Moshoeshoe convinced Great Britain to establish a protectorate over his kingdom, a colonial system lasting until Lesotho gained its independence in 1966.
