Kbal Chhay, Sihanoukville, Cambodia - 07 July 2006
Aspect Ratio:
3:4
Keywords:
colour, color, vertical, countryside, nature, close up, near, 2006, july, kbal chhay, sihanoukville, south east asia, cambodia, khmer, rural, wildlife, animal, snake, gecko, lizard, prey
There is a one-in-a-million chance of ever seeing something like this, never mind photographing it. Here a skinny, but very long, snake, called a ‘snaa on saom’, tries to swallow a whole gecko (jeeng jok). The gecko was still alive and wriggled desperately to get free. The snake’s grip was however too strong. A crowd of people and I watched for about twenty minutes as the snake, with great difficulty, used its muscle contractions to try to swallow the gecko. He managed to swallow the lizard’s body as far as the hind legs, but no more. Those wide back legs just wouldn’t fit inside the snake’s mouth. After much effort the snake eventually spat the gecko out and amazingly the little lizard scampered away to freedom. The snake however wasn’t as lucky. The terrified locals informed me that this little fellow was very poisonous. As soon as the gecko had made his escape, a very fat angry-looking lady battered the snake to death with a long stick and some heavy rocks.
