Hilarious moment baby Nile crocodile takes a joy ride on the back of an unsuspecting HIPPO

THIS is the hilarious moment a young Nile crocodile unexpectedly crawled onto the back of a hippo after mistaking it for a rock.

The tiny croc was spotted relaxing on the back of what appeared to be a rock on the edge of a watering hole at a nature reserve in South Africa.

All of a sudden the “rock” moved, lifting the crocodile out the water and it quickly became apparent the rock was in fact a HIPPO.

The giant hippo had submerged itself beneath the water to cool down and with its back only visible from above the water, the young crocodile hopped on mistaking it for a rock.

This funny moment was captured by photographer James Armstrong, 39, while on an annual bush holiday with friends, at Klaserie Private Game Reserve.

James, from Johannesburg, said he didn’t notice straight away but it didn’t take long before he spotted the crocodile perched on the back of one of the hippos.

He said; “We were in the game-viewing and the waterhole was one of the only water sources for kilometers around due to the drought and the hippos were around 10 meters away from us.

“It was absolutely unplanned, as soon as I saw the crocodile and hippo relationship, I quickly began taking pictures.

“This isn’t a common sighting at all, from various comments I have had on the pics, it really doesn’t happen often. In fact, almost never.

“The hippo did get a little perturbed by us and did some thrashing around with a bit of a grunting show, which sent the little croc sliding into the water.

“But the crocodile clearly didn’t mind as it just climbed right back up onto the crocodile’s back again and the hippo didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

“When I saw my images I was exhilarated. It is a really unusual sighting, and I knew I had captured something pretty special when I went through the shots.”

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