When Shorty Machaka burst into my office and crashed into an arrangement of tom toms and assegais, there was no doubt that there was going to be a big story about a big snake.

Note: Patrick makes this sound simple but only experience and a sound knowledge of the animal kept Patrick from being seriously hurt by this python. If she had managed to get just one coil round him, he may have been crushed to death. If you meet a python in the bush DO NOT attempt to catch it. Editor.

Two men who were cutting fire breaks on our eastern boundary bumped into the huge serpent as it lay in short grass in the early morning light. The message of the discovery was sent at optic speed and a short time later I arrived at the scene on a quad bike with a sack and Shorty perched on the rack like an anxious parrot.
 
The African Rock Python was magnificent, healthy with a skin of translucent browns, yellows, greens and cobalt blue.
 
After standing and photographing her for two hours it was time to catch her and send her to Viv Wilson, the famous zoologist who is doing research on pythons and their reproduction.
 
No matter how many times you’ve done it, grabbing a python by the tail and waiting for it’s retaliatory strike with mouth wide open does have a heart stopping effect, and with a length of more than 12 feet everything seemed to be amplified. 
 
I did not have a chance for another thought. The telepathic creature took off with meters of it’s length scything through the tall grass. With a leap I ran forward and grabbed it’s tail and within a second that open mouth struck back along it’s body towards my hand with a horrible dog-like bark. I dropped the tail, stumbled, then grabbed it once more as the snake headed off.
 
I shouted to Shorty to take the tail as I snatched the sack and ran towards the front of the python flaring the sack in front of her. Smash, as her huge head bit into the sack and a second later my left hand had her behind the head with her furious black beady eye staring at me. She tried striking from my hand, mouth open, but as she was held at both ends she soon composed herself and behaved in a very civilized way.
 
I could tell she was a female because of the short distance from her vent to the tip of her most powerful tail. When we got back to the homestead she measured 14 feet 7 inches!

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Returning from Lipilichi Wilderness near the Niassa Game Reserve in northern Mozambique, myself and Richard Swemmer drove past what seemed to be a dead snake. Anxious to identify it we turned around in the thick dust and headed for the place where we thought we had seen it.

As the dust settled the iconic silhouette of a cobra emerged. Standing with over a third of his body length off the ground the cobra watched me coming to inspect him. The dark band across his cream throat identified him a Mozambique Spitting Cobra, not only capable of injecting lethal doses of venom, but also feared for spraying that venom with remarkable accuracy into the eyes of its predators or tormentors. I put on my sunglasses and picked up a bottle of water in case I needed to wash the venom from my face. I was determined to get a picture of this beautiful serpent. As I walked towards him the cobra spread his hood even wider, his dark eyes never for a moment moving off mine. Although his patience was tested he refrained from using his precious venom and allowed me to photograph him, and as I moved off he flattened his hood and disappeared into the bush.
 
It always amazes me how these cobras in particular show an extraordinary amount of bravery in the face of danger that must seem so overwhelming to them, in this case a Toyota Land cruiser, and I am always left in awe at their deadly beauty and majestic bravery.
 
Patrick Mavros Junior