Takeri Pics

[spike.t]

Yeah right......

 

[spike.t]

I’m assuming your maritime patrols consist of 4 legs a long tail and lots of teeth.

Mmm.....yeah

 

[375Fox]

View attachment 549191

Do you know how long this python would be? It’s one of largest ones I’ve seen. I had an incident with a python two years ago walking out in the dark. I learned it’s every man for himself when a snake is involved, was actually pretty funny once we realized it was a python and not something poisonous.

 

[PeteG]

Do you know how long this python would be? It’s one of largest ones I’ve seen. I had an incident with a python two years ago walking out in the dark. I learned it’s every man for himself when a snake is involved, was actually pretty funny once we realized it was a python and not something poisonous.

@375Fox i believe it would have been 10-12ft long at a minimum as a conservative estimate.
I did not see the whole snake as it already had its head over the mound and towards the burrow when we drove up.
I’m estimating the length based on what I could see and its girth.

It is one of the largest, if not the largest, python I have ever seen in the bush.

 

[spike.t]

Do you know how long this python would be? It’s one of largest ones I’ve seen. I had an incident with a python two years ago walking out in the dark. I learned it’s every man for himself when a snake is involved, was actually pretty funny once we realized it was a python and not something poisonous.

As it was so big and in the same area it must be the same one I saw a few weeks earlier...I was driving along the track looking to either side to see if I could see anything.....I just happened to glance ahead and thought I saw a log across the track, but it dawned on me that it was to smooth and uniform to be a log, it took a bit to register that it was a python as the diameter of the body lying across the track was big...the head and tail weren't visible as the grass either side was tall and that section hadn't been burned yet..I stopped and was trying to get the camera on my phone fired up and the tail came out of the grass and slipped across the track just as my phone was ready....I got out to see if I could see it...the tail disappeared as I walked a few steps towards the area it was in.....then from off to the side quite a way from where the tail had gone into the grass a head raised up....now it was the size of a decent size dogs head and started towards me....well I thought fk this and decided discretion was the order of the day, and that my seat in the cruiser seemed a far better place to be than standing there....so

 

[Wheels]

Boaz is an African friend of many years. He is wonderful and will do anything for anyone. In his younger days he was a top athlete, on the national soccer team. He also served in the military. Boaz is also very afraid of snakes.

The two of us are driving along a dirt trail. A python is crossing the track with about 4' showing. I open the door to go grab the tail to drag him out. Boaz grabs my arm and says no. I say I will be careful and I have done this before. He holds my arm and says no. I say see the tree. I will drag him around the tree so when he strikes the trunk will halt his forward progress. Boaz holds my arm and says no. I say I will grab a tennis racket so if it strikes at me it will hit the racket. Boaz grabs me even tighter and says no. I say it will be ok. Even if the python gets me and coils around me, you will come pull the python off me or beat the snake to death. Boaz says NO. You will die!!!

We are good friends, but I think he was serious.

 

[wesheltonj]

I would prefer not to see any in October or any of his relatives or friends.

 

[steve white]

All being well a little bit of burning will happen before you arrive.....
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Happy band of pyromaniacs!

 

[spike.t]

Happy band of pyromaniacs!

The novelty wears off fast....actually for me wore off while ago....its shit ....you breathing in smoke Ash etc , and the heat from a grass fire is unbelievable....I discovered one thing from doing burning that the number one thing that scares the shit out of me is fire.....I have seen 100 metres of dry grass go up in a few seconds when wind changed....you have no chance of out running it....am always feeling which way wind is coming from and where already burned areas are...louise 3 years ago thought I had been burned....I went through the fire it was only few inches high where we were, but wanted to check how the fire the other team were doing coming from our left was going.....I knew that where I had walked to was already burned from earlier in the day, but she didn't know that...2 scouts came with me then walked back....all of a sudden the wind came up and the fire coming from the left went ballistic....came roaring towards me but I knew was OK as was about 70 metres in burned part....it was shit as had my shirt over my mouth and nose to breath as smoke was thick ....all she could see was wall of flames 20 foot high where I had gone...she said to the 2 scouts where is he?...they just pointed, and not exactly helping...said you can see how people in their huts get burned....she walked through the smoke as it cleared and was shaking....and was how shall we say slightly angry when she saw me taking a video of it....it was only after when I thought of how it must have looked to her I realised why she was in such a state....she was convinced I was dead....firefighters have my utmost respect....

 

[spike.t]

Well not takeri but today last day of a members hunt and bit of a tour...head back to Lusaka in morning...had a great time with him and his wife...you will have to wait for his report for anything else

OK here is one at takeri...but not giving anything away...

 

[Wheels]

Well not takeri but today last day of a members hunt and bit of a tour...head back to Lusaka in morning...had a great time with him and his wife...you will have to wait for his report for anything else
View attachment 558983

OK here is one at takeri...but not giving anything away...View attachment 558984

Looking forward to the report.

Are the falls abnormally dry or is Zambia diverting most of the water on the east side of the falls through the penstocks?

 

[spike.t]

Not sure...but this time of year they low as rainfall water long gone

 

[spike.t]

Standing in the dam roughly half way along the wall....looking towards it... kinda dry...

 

[spike.t]

Now and back then...

 

[spike.t]

Having Christmas lunch today with syd my manager as head back to lusaka later in the week....Ronald our cook excelled himself with the turkey...cooked to perfection and great roast potatoes....

Now anyone who has hunted with us in last couple of years will know this is my favourite dessert Ronald makes....a secret is that he makes 2 extra each time so me and @PeteG Can sneak a quick sugar fix next day

 

[spike.t]

Standing in the dam roughly half way along the wall....looking towards it... kinda dry...


View attachment 573765

By the way just so people understand, in this photo I should be under water......

 

[gillettehunter]

Big difference in the water level. Hope the rains start soon for you.
Bruce

 

[wesheltonj]

Rained every night I was there, I would have thought with the rains coming early, the tank would be higher and the river higher too.

 

[steve white]

As it was so big and in the same area it must be the same one I saw a few weeks earlier...I was driving along the track looking to either side to see if I could see anything.....I just happened to glance ahead and thought I saw a log across the track, but it dawned on me that it was to smooth and uniform to be a log, it took a bit to register that it was a python as the diameter of the body lying across the track was big...the head and tail weren't visible as the grass either side was tall and that section hadn't been burned yet..I stopped and was trying to get the camera on my phone fired up and the tail came out of the grass and slipped across the track just as my phone was ready....I got out to see if I could see it...the tail disappeared as I walked a few steps towards the area it was in.....then from off to the side quite a way from where the tail had gone into the grass a head raised up....now it was the size of a decent size dogs head and started towards me....well I thought fk this and decided discretion was the order of the day, and that my seat in the cruiser seemed a far better place to be than standing there....so

It's shocking how heavy/girthy the really big ones can get. I saw one coming out of a heated room in a drug dealers' house (which I assure you I did not mean to enter; long story) with a head bigger than any dog I have EVER seen, and a girth larger than any zoo specimen I have ever seen. I feel sure they had it in order to scare off their competition, and it probably worked. The room was full of fist sized turds from all the rabbits, hamsters, etc. they told me. A pawn shop in the seedy section of Fort Worth, Tx put up a sign "caution: guard snake on duty" and never had another break-in.

 

[spike.t]

Rained every night I was there, I would have thought with the rains coming early, the tank would be higher and the river higher too.

Yeah but not really that much since...on 97ml so far compared to 270ml same time last year...and last year and year before were way down on normal.....