22nd January 2008 : Snakes & Lizards

It was a snake day today – as I nipped outside to photograph this big crocodile who looked in total ecstacy sunning himself on one of the sandbanks below our balcony, I almost trod on a Speckled Sand Snake (above & below), which was busy hunting baby lizards in the rocks by the house. There are plenty of baby lizards and skinks about at the moment, so no doubt the snake is having an easy time of it at the moment. The Speckled Sand Snake is an attractive snake, as snakes go, with its auburn head and long, long slender striped body, distinctively speckled on the underside. Its venom is not fatal for humans – if bitten, we suffer local swelling and pain but nothing life-threatening.

Big crocodile havin' a great time!
click any image to enlarge
Seckled Sand Snake hunting baby lizards
Watch out, little lizard!

Alert for the slightest movement...
Baby Agama Lizard keeping a beady eye out!
Its distinctive speckled flanks give the snake its name

As I was heading back to the office, I then spotted a second snake – this time a tiny one, which also looked like a Sand Snake of sorts. It still had kinks in its body, which suggested to me that perhaps it was very newly hatched. (It’s still a wonder to me how something as long as a snake can fit into such a small egg, but there you go – the wonders of Nature!)

Still kinky - a baby snake just out of its egg
click to enlarge
Keepin' my eye on you...

After yesterday’s high water, the river had already subsided by morning, and all day, the level continued to drop. It was another perfect full moon tonight. I took a photo from our open air bathroom, which I rather like, for you can just see the roof silhouetted at the top of the image, and you can see the moon and its reflection in the river – highlighting how our bath really is right out over the river and completely open to the elements, in all their raw beauty.

There was another brief flurry of flying ant activity in the evening, which one gecko in particular took special advantage of. It had worked out (or perhaps stumbled upon) the fact that many flying ants get caught in our bath, and that this was an ideal huntin’n’munchin’ ground for a small nocturnal lizard. He ate so many ants, I’m surprised he was able to crawl back up out of the bath…

Difficult to see, but there's a gecko in the bath, gorging on flying ants...
click any image to enlarge
Full to the brim, but still with one last flying ant in its mouth, the gecko manages to crawl out of the bath...
Full moon reflecting on the river, as viewed from our open-air bathroom...

More in Pictures:
[January Snakes, Insects & other Creepy Crawlies]
[January Wildlife, from lizards to crocodiles & more]
[Kulafumbi's January Sky, Sun, & Moon]