Today I had driven along the beach road once and was on the return when I happened to glance out of my lowered window. There in the road was a snake in perfect double-s formation, slithering across from the beach towards the overgrown inland area. I grabbed my phone, hit the camera button and zoomed. By this time the snake had disappeared inbetween two trash bins. I checked my photo and all you could see was the tip of its tail.
Eight months we have been living in Thailand, this was my first snake sighting and I didn't even manage to get a photo of it!
Disappointed, I carried on driving. On impulse, I decided to turn around and head back down the beach road. I reached the end, caught a couple of Pokemon and once again turned around, ready to head for home. As I drove back along the road I thought my eyes were decieving me. In front of me on the road was a snake - same colour as before - but instead of being in double-s formation it was stretched out straight. I stopped the car, grabbed the camera out of my bag, quickly powered it up and flicked zoom. This time the snake stayed still long enough for me to get a half decent photo, almost as if it was making up for rushing off before. I gazed in awe at the snake as it slithered away onto the grass verge.
As I watched its tail disappear into the grass something caught my eye, and a little further over the snake's head popped up out of the foliage, as if it was on the look out for something. It stayed like this for what seemed like an eternity. I lowered the passenger window and managed to take some photos. Then, an irrate Mynah bird swooped down and started squaking at the snake, alerting anything close by that danger was here. The bird didn't stop until the snake slithered away. |
I sat and watched as the snake emerged from the grass a few metres further along, and once again reared it's head up in surveillance mode. The Mynah bird swooped in again, and once more it made a huge noise and commotion until the snake finally slithered away. What had started out as a perfectly ordinary day had turned into a rare opportunity to closely observe and photograph a beautiful wild animal. The photo to the right shows the alert snake in the foreground, with the sea in the background. |