Python curls up in engine
2012-07-09 09:20
Imagine driving in the Kruger Park, heading to a lion sighting you heard about from fellow game viewers, only to be held up by a python... and not one lazing in the road, rather curling up in your engine.
This is exactly what happened to Marlene and Leon Swart on a recent visit to the game reserve.
In the story Marlene shared with Wild Card magazine, she says:
"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."
They waited for it to sail out on the other side, but when tourists in surrounding vehicles started laughing, they knew something was going awry.
"One of the safari operators informed us that he saw the snake ‘going up!'" she said.
Of course they couldn't hop out of the car then and there to remove the intruder, so instead drove to a lookout point about 5km away with a curious convoy following.
When they got there Leon opened the bonnet and found the cold-blooded creature luxuriously warming up on the engine.
Marlene concludes: " Leon patted the snake, took it by the tail and the snake exited the same way it came in."
