Release the Beast!!

For quite some time, a large 4 metre python was kept in a cage, eagerly awaiting the day it would be released back into the wild. But in order to release it, it had to be moved from the cage to a snake bucket so that it could be transported out to the nearby conservancy. In a perfect world, the snake would have remained docile and embraced its impending release by allowing itself to be put in the bucket without resisting. However, the world we live in is far from perfect and the snake did not enjoy being manhandled. The most exciting showdown of man vs beast unfurled in the snake room at the lodge. 30 minutes of jaw dropping action was all the snake could handle before becoming exhausted and eventually tapping out.

Finally, we had arrived at the river on the conservancy where we were going to release the snake. The snake had spent the last 24 hours cooped up in the bucket and we were hoping that it didn’t have too big a chip on its proverbial shoulder when we opened the bucket. But just to be safe, we decided to open the bucket facing towards the river, hoping that it would go towards the river at a safe distance from us. We cautiously opened the lid and expected the snake to bust out in all flaming glory. However, it was quite awkward because we were so ready for a rampant snake to try and detach our heads from our necks but it just stayed in the bucket for a good 20 seconds as we all held our breath. We decided to give it a bit more a nudge to check if it was alive. It was then that the snake tasted freedom and immediately turned right around and faced towards us and darted directly at us at impressive speed but thankfully headed into the bushes behind us. After a few nervous chuckles and some heavy sighs of relief we started to walk back to the car. But to our dismay, the python was lying on the only path back to the car as if it knew the way back to the car. I guess you could call it karma, I mean, we did lock the snake away in a small cramped bucket for 24 hours, so a few near heart attacks are fair, right?

Finally, we managed to manoeuvre around the snake without getting swallowed whole and drove home with our hearts beating at a fairly normal tempo and a sense of accomplishment. Job well done.