Their bone-crushing jaws, 24 razor-sharp teeth and armour-plated skin are enough to ensure most animals keep their distance.

But, as our incredible pictures show, even crocodiles are no match for a herd of angry hippos.

This young reptilian predator paid the price for swimming too close to a mother and her calves while they bathed.

As 50 hippos gathered into a defensive circle around them, the crocodile panicked and raced over their backs in a bid to escape.

Bold move: The crocodile races across the backs of the hippos in a bid to escape after trying to snare a mother and her calves

Making a splash: The crocodile writhes and wriggles but cannot escape the clutches of his angry opponents

It was the last mistake he ever made. The beast’s defences were no match for the maze of angry mammals, who proved their bite is every bit as lethal as his.

The spectacularly rare battle of the beasts was captured by Czech wildlife photographer Vaclav Silha.

He had set up his camera on the banks of the River Nile in the Serengeti national park, Tanzania, when the unbelievable scene unfolded before him.

But the 45-year-old got more than he bargained for when a colossal fight broke out between the group and a sneaky crocodile he had spotted earlier.

‘Mutual respect between these animals means fights occur very rarely,’ he said.

‘One of the only reasons you might see a conflict is if the hippos have young and they think the little ones are under threat. That’s exactly what happened here.

In the jaws of death: The crocodile is defeated by a maze of angry hippos after trying to kill one of their young

Make it snappy: The raging hippos take revenge by biting back while feeding at the River Nile in Tanzania

‘The incautious croc got too close to a female who had calves and the whole group gathered into a defensive circle around them. It was a strong message for the crook to clear off.

‘I have absolutely no idea why but the crocodile suddenly raced across the backs of the hippos. I think it might have panicked and thought it was a possible escape route. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

‘It was the worst choice the reptile could ever have made and it was definitely its last.

‘The island of hippos suddenly erupted with teeth and all I could see was the crocodile being repeatedly crushed in their huge mouths.’

Described as one of the most aggressive creatures in the animal kingdom, an adult hippo can apply several tons of pressure in a single bite.

‘Even the toughest crocodile could not have withstood being repeatedly bitten like that,’ said Mr Silha, from Prague.

‘There was no way for him to escape. I few seconds later his lifeless body slipped below the water and I didn’t see him again.’

One of these pictures was originally published in the November issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Finish him, boys: The crocodile writhes in its final movements before being finished off by his mammal opponents

Tanzania has set itself the goal of attracting at least a million tourists from next year, but one thing that has apparently been overlooked is the potential of urban tourism.

With the possible exception of Zanzibar, urban tourism is virtually non-existent in Tanzania, and this is in stark contrast to other African countries with which Tanzania competes for foreign tourists.

Now that we have set ourselves a lofty goal, it�s time we diversified our tourist attractions to include sites in urban areas such as Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Arusha and elsewhere.

It is generally agreed that Tanzania has the best national parks and game reserves in this part of Africa, not to mention other world-renowned attractions such as Mount Kilimanjaro and the sandy beaches of Zanzibar.

However, these need to be supplemented with attractions in urban areas that have hitherto not been exploited. In Dar es Salaam, for example, there are many places that tourists visiting the country for the first time would like to see.

These include the port, State House and historical sites such as Karimjee Hall, Uhuru Stadium and the house in Magomeni that Tanzania’s founding President, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, used to live in during the 1950s.

In Arusha, there is the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Arusha Declaration Monument, to mention but a few overlooked tourist attractions in the town that former US President Bill Clinton dubbed “the Geneva of Africa”.

South Africa has used urban tourism to great effect in recent years, and the cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth are in themselves important tourist attractions in that country. Even neighbouring Kenya turned to urban tourism, and it�s time that we followed suit if we are really intent on not being left behind.

The need to explore all options in Tanzania�s quest to attract at least a million tourists annually cannot be overstated, particularly at this time when the world is going through its worst economic crisis in 70 years.

Source: The Citizen