I posted today on Social media, a photo from a trip we ran, back in September of 2021.
We were in Brazil diving with anacondas.
On this particular day we were on a beautiful river in Bonito, Brazil.
The water was gin clear, and the scenery was spectacular.
We were slowly cruising down the river looking for snakes. We were watching the edges of the river, as well as the river banks for any snakes that might hiding in the water, or basking in the sun.
We finally found one on the river bank. She was a big 5-6 meter long snake. She was so beautiful lying there in the sun.
We slowly approached, but she dropped in the water to hide from us.
AND hide she did!
When you are a big snake in super clear water it should be impossible to disappear. But these snakes are territorial, and she knows the area she lives in well.
Snakes this size get big by being smart and cautious.
The area she has chosen to live in is surrounded by a forest. The river has a lot of trees, tall grasses and forest debris along the edge of the river, so she disappeared fast.
The search was on, we didn’t want to lose her.
We began searching the edges of the water with masks and snorkels to try and find her.
I checked underneath a tree right at the bend of the river and could see her large body tucked up deep underneath.
WE FOUND HER!
Our snake in her hiding spot. To the right of her, you can see her breathing hole. To the left, the river opens up.
It was a shallow area, but she was tucked in tight, so we had to put on scuba tanks to go where she was at.
This snake was hiding in a massive hiding hole she found or created that was behind a tree growing in the water.
It was dark and deep with a small breathing hole, which allowed her to hide indefinitely.
We swam underneath the tree that was half-grown, in and on the river bank. It led to where she was safely tucked away.
It was a tight area, so we took turns, so it would be less intimidating to the snake. A bunch of faces all trying to look at her in here hiding hole might stress her out. We did not want to do that.
I admit it was a bit unnerving swimming in there.
It was dark, and the water was silted up from her moving around in there. You could see her massive body, but you couldn’t see her head.
So we had to wait for her to settle down before we could inch in and see where she was.
She was just laying there, occasionally swimming up to the surface to get a breath of air.
Once she did, she would swim back down and curl up again.
These snakes are so calm and well-behaved. Nothing like we are led to believe.
She was relaxed and never got aggressive with us.
Yes they are predators and yes they are dangerous and must be respected, but interactions like these prove that if done with respect, we can co-exist. They truly are such a polite predator.
She eventually left her cave and swam along the edge of the river searching for one of her spots where she exits the river to slither back into the forest.
We continued to follow her and I am so glad we did, we managed to capture some epic images of this iconic predator…
PART 2 COMING TOMORROW.
