A crocodile and a bird were captured having lunch together in Kruger National Park.

Footage shows a bird and a crocodile hunting fish in a river just inches from each other.

“The initial reaction was that this was a daring bird treading around in dangerous territories. It was the dry season and the desperation of fish confined in these ever-shrinking pools, led to the very unlikely situation of this stork and crocodile actually helping each other to catch fish,” says the filmer.

The rare sight was captured on October 18.

We spend one afternoon sitting in a bird hide situated on the bank of a river in the Kruger National Park. One specific large bird called a yellow billed stork caught our attention. It was walking up and down in a small pool of water with its open bill skimming the water for fish. Suddenly we noticed a young crocodile swimming around in the same water. The initial reaction was that this was a daring bird treading around in dangerous territories. We sat and watched this stork and crocodile to see what might happen. We eventually realized this sighting was nothing what we thought it was initially. It was the dry season and the desperation of fish confined in these ever shrinking pools, led to the very unlikely situation of this stork and crocodile actually helping each other to catch fish. While the bird walked through the shallow water, the fish got spooked and swam away from the bird while some would temporarily get trapped in the mud cloud left behind the moving bird. This was picked up by the crocodile and used it to its advantage. The video shows the crocodile’s quick movements in an attempt to catch a fish every time the bird comes near or past him. The bird in return used this to its own advantage as the crocodile would spook the fish towards the bird. Every time the crocodile moved, the bird came closer to in search of a quick bite. Not once did these two different species of animal show any aggression towards one another. Both the bird and crocodile were successful in their strategies with each getting a healthy helping of fish in the two hour period we watched them.