Pretoria:
The opening of a polling booth was delayed by a few hours in a South African province after giant crocodiles in a river made it impossible for the election officials to cross it on route to the poll station.
The electoral officer of the northern Limpopo province, Nkaro Mateta, said that a polling station in the province opened two hours late on Wednesday because the election officials could not cross the river due to the presence of crocodiles.
The Limpopo province is about 280 km from Pretoria.
Officials had to wait for the army to take them across to set up the station at a primary school in the town of Lebowakgomo, the South African Press Association reported.
Mateta said the army was called in to assist and provide transport to the officials.
"We needed a specialized car because there are crocodiles in the river," the association quoted Mateta as saying.
These local elections are one of the most fiercely contested elections in South Africa since the first free vote was held in the country in 1994.