Watch crocodiles lurk on Australian safari guide’s commute. ‘What if you broke down?’

For most, a commute to work consists of sitting in traffic. But for an Australian safari tour guide, it’s much more “wild.”

David McMahon, the head tour guide for Venture North Safaris in the Northern Territory, makes the weekly drive through a crocodile-infested river, according to a Sept. 18 TikTok that has amassed more than 1.3 millions views as of Sept. 20.

The video shows the “adventurer and naturalist” drive through East Alligator River, a body of water where crocodiles set up camp.

“I’ve been doing this commute for 15 years and it just feels normal to me,” McMahon said in a statement to McClatchy News. “I’m not even really sure when I stopped thinking ‘this is insane!’”

Although commenters find it hard to believe the confidence McMahon exhibits while driving through the hungry waters, he assures that he’s crossed the river “many, many, many times,” according to a post on his Instagram.

“Now I don’t think this is everyone’s idea of a commute to work but things are a bit different up here in the Top End,” McMahon, lauded as the safari’s most “senior guide,” said in the video.

The video shows multiple crocodiles, described by McMahon as “one or two” setting up for “lunch time,” using their “little fingers out of the water” to feel for the vibrations of fish like mullet and barramundi.

McMahon’s said over time you learn when it’s safe to cross the river, “named by a British explorer who didn’t know the difference between an alligator and a crocodile.”

“You get really good at judging the tide and flow,” he said. “It’s all about experience and when there are that many crocodiles, you’ve got to know what you’re doing.”

But there was a time McMahon’s “heart was in his mouth.”

“It was night time and I was crossing in a really deep area, trying to get past when the tide had stopped before it started rushing out again,” McMahon said. “My headlights went under and I had to do the crossing blind, knowing what was waiting for me in the water.”

Some commenters were concerned, with one person saying, “What if you broke down?”

“I’m scared – what if the truck…slides...into…the....river???,” another wrote.

However, others thought differently, with one saying, “Wow, that’s so cool though.”

“God, I love Australia,” another wrote.

McMahon said he loves the comments on his videos because “sometimes you’re so used to doing the extraordinary that you forget how wild it all is.”

This story was originally published September 21, 2023 at 4:00 AM with the headline "Watch crocodiles lurk on Australian safari guide’s commute. ‘What if you broke down?’."