PYTHON HITCHING A RIDE IN KRUGER!
OK, this would be my biggest nightmare! There's a saying that "Africa is not for sissies" and whilst the writer came out of this experience none the worse for wear, I would not have been in her shoes for anything. Oi!
My husband Leon and I were on
vacation in Hazyview and visited the Kruger National Park each day during our
weeklong stay.
We are subscribed to the Facebook
and WhatsApp groups: Kruger National Park Sightings. This group supplies
visitors with real time information and sightings become a lot easier when you
know which road to take.
On Sunday, 06 May 2012, we entered
at Phabeni Gate and coincidently it was my late father’s birthday. I could not
think of a better place to celebrate than in the Kruger Park that he loved so
much.
We received a message of a lion
sighting on the H3. We were not far from the area and decided to check it out.
On our way there, we saw a couple of cars and safari vehicles and initially
thought it must be lions.
While there, we were informed that
there was a python in the grass and while we were searching, the python
suddenly sailed out of the grass straight towards our car. I waved to the
vehicle behind us to reverse, but he couldn’t understand what everyone was
looking at. The next moment the python disappeared underneath our car.
Approximately two minutes later, the tourists in
the vehicles around us started laughing – the snake had not come out from under
our vehicle. One of the safari operators informed us that he saw the snake
‘going up!’
We drove approximately five
kilometers to the nearest lookout point, Mathekenyane (Grano Hill)
approximately 10 kilometers from Skukuza with a convoy of vehicles following us
to enjoy a piece of the action.
When we parked on the hill, Leon
opened the car bonnet and then asked me to bring the camera. Mr Snake was lying
on the engine, eyeballing all the commotion around him. Leon patted the snake,
took it by the tail and the snake exited the same way it came in.
The snake sailed away unharmed and
luckily there was no damage to the car. Later that morning we received a
message that someone spotted a very relaxed python on Mathekenyane!
The lions were forgotten for then
and Leon had to drive me to Skukuza so that I could get some sugar water to
calm my nerves. I was in shock and terrified while we drove to Mathekenyane
with the snake somewhere in the car. Leon a real ‘Ace Ventura’ was extremely
excited about the experience.
Later that evening we had a good
chuckle about the reactions of the bystanders when the snake exited the
vehicle. People were scattering in all directions and I am only disappointed
that I was numb with fear and didn’t take more pictures.
The snake is estimated to be between
four to five meters and we never once imagined the response we would get from
this experience.
Leon and I are absolutely crazy
about Kruger and visit as often as we can. Having a snake in our car bonnet was
an experience that I will NEVER forget!
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