Zimbabwe crocs go veggie for high fashion

By MacDonald Dzirutwe KARIBA Zimbabwe (Reuters) – Crocodiles are some of the most feared predators in Africa, ruthless reptiles renowned for tearing their prey to pieces before swallowing hunks of meat raw. But in the baking sun at Nyanyana crocodile farm on the shores of Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba, feeding time has a surreal edge as the beasts nibble lazily at bowls of vegetarian pellets. “We don’t feed them meat any more,” said Oliver Kamundimu, financial director of farm owner Padenga Holdings. Four hundred kilometres (250 miles) northwest of Harare, Nyanyana is home to 50,000 Nile crocodiles and is one of three Padenga farms around Kariba, Africa’s largest man-made lake.