I’m back from my game drive, just settling down to check my photos. Suddenly I hear a squeal of terror from the waterhole. A kill! Peering closer, I can make out the gleam of writhing coils: a stripe-bellied sand-snake has just captured a frog and is now stretching its jaws around the still-struggling amphibian. Amazingly, another sand-snake has joined the fray and is attempting to swallow the frog from the other end. The two combatants twist and thrash, sinuous bodies intertwining as they contest the prize.
I say ‘waterhole’. Actually, it’s a bird bath. I’m sitting outside my chalet during pre-lunch downtime at a camp in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park. It’s been a great wildlife day already – our game drive brought elephants, giraffes, even a leopard – but for sheer drama, nothing tops the life-and-death struggle now unfolding in front of me.