A days-old Nile crocodile (Crocodylus Niloticus) takes his first swim through the tannin-stained Louri Creek, deep in the heart of the 380,000-acre (153,781-hectare) Loango National Park.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "In the Land of the Surfing Hippos," August 2004, National Geographic magazine)