AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION 21 July 06 Crocodile bites tent and frightens Australian campers Australia
A family camping in northern Australia's Kakadu National Park has had an unexpected wake up call from a 3.5 metre crocodile.
Laetitia Lemke reports, Noel Bleakley says he woke to see the reptile as it tried to bite its way into his tent.
He says he called out to his two sons also camping at the site: "you'd better wake up there's a croc trying to get into my tent and he's not invited."
Mr Bleakley says the reptile was frightened by his sons screaming and in its panic ran into the side of a paperbark tree.
"Then he was totally disorientated," he said.
"He was stunned and he was jumping around all over the place ... trying to find his way back to the river."
Mr Bleakley says he wants to warn others that seven metres may not be an adequate distance to camp from a waterhole known to be home to saltwater crocodiles.
Crocodile bites tent