Chito says: “Pocho is my best friend. This is a very dangerous routine but we have a good relationship. He will look me in the eye and not attack me. It is too dangerous for anyone else to come in the water. It is only ever the two of us.”

Chito made friends with the croc after finding him with a gunshot wound (to the left eye), and close to death, on the banks of the Central American state’s Parismina river over 20 years ago. Chito brought him back to his house, fed him and helped him to recover. It took years (10 years to be exact) before Chito felt that Pocho had bonded with him enough to get closer to the animal.

“At first it was slow, slow. I played with him a bit, slowly doing more. Then I found out that when I called his name he would come over to me.”

At one point during his recovery, Chito left Pocho in a lake near his house. But as he turned to walk away, to his amazement Pocho got out of the water and began to follow him home.

Chito recalls: “That convinced me the crocodile could be tame.” But when he first fearlessly waded into the water with the giant reptile his family was so horrified they couldn’t bear to watch. So instead, he took to splashing around with Pocho when they were asleep.

Four years ago Chito showed some of his tricks to friends, including getting the animal to close his eyes on command, and they convinced him to go public with a show. Now he swims and plays with Pocho as well as feeding him at the lake near his home in the lowland tropical town of Sarapiqui. The odd couple have now become a major tourist attraction, with several tour operators, taking visitors on touring cruises to see the pair.

On tour operator’s website describes the spectacle as: “One of the most amazing things that no cruise ship passenger will want to miss, the adventure show between the man and the crocodile.”