Driver realises incredible reason behind 'highway' of tracks on outback road: 'They're everywhere'

Yahoo

08-03-2025

Why did the crocodile cross the road?
It's a question that had a Northern Territory crocodile expert pondering the answer after discovering a complex network of tracks and footprints covering an outback road. Tommy Hayes dubbed the incredible scene a 'crocodile highway' after realising just how numerous and intricate the markings were.
Hayes had taken his little boy to see some fish and crocodiles at a billabong not far from his home when he noticed some unusual markings in the dirt road and jumped out of the car to investigate.
'I kept finding track after track after track, and all different crocodiles, back and forth, different ways. Beautiful big claw marks in the sand. Some of them were quite fresh,' Hayes said.
Right next to the road is a large billabong, while on the other side is a barbed wire fence and a collection of trees. Hayes said the crocodiles would likely be moving between the main billabong and another waterhole beyond the trees.
Video of the discovery shows a collection of footprints from crocodiles, dingoes and buffaloes crossing the road. Patterns in the sand show where the croc's tail swished from side to side. Huge front and back footprints, dwarfing Hayes' own, are believed to be from a dominant male around 4.5m in length. "They're everywhere. It's a bloody crocodile highway," he says in a video on his Instagram.
'To see all those tracks, it's really special. I think it's awesome. Being able to see the indentations from their bellies and their tails and things, that's super cool seeing that stuff. Little signatures, little fingerprints from the animals," he said.
While filming, he said the square pattern of a crocodile's belly could be mistaken for tyre tracks in dried mud, leaving a lot of these markings to go unnoticed by an untrained eye.
The Northern Territory's wet season typically runs from November to April, and brings high humidity and monsoonal rains. The extra water makes it easier for the reptiles to move from creek to creek, but recently Hayes has noticed the area has been uncharacteristically dry — which could cause the 'crocodile highway' to go quiet.
'Usually the end of the wet is signified by symbolic things like the dragonflies coming back. The spear grass shoots up really high… the sky is much clearer at night... and all that is happening," he said.
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Hayes returned to the road the following day and found more prints from the large male, as well as smaller ones from other crocs believed to be 1.5m to 2m in length.
While he deals with crocodiles on a daily basis and is used to identifying tracks, Hayes said he's never seen a crossing as busy as this one.
'I've not seen that magnitude before, but I'm only just starting to explore more remote areas. The Territory is different every day, it's very, very cool. We're very lucky to live where we live."
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