man swallowed by a python

Residents and game rangers are searching for a python that is said to have swallowed a 51-year-old man in Laikipia North District.

The man and a colleague were on a night honey-harvesting mission on a hilly and rocky section of Tassia village when the snake is reported to have struck ten days ago.

“It was late and they could not harvest from all the beehives so they decided to sleep in the bush until the following morning. The snake struck as they slept and coiled itself around him,” a relative Mrs Loiyan Roma said.

However, Laikipia Kenya Wildlife Service boss Richard Chepkwony said rangers who visited the area after the residents reported the incident combed the bushes but could not find the snake.

“Pythons normally stay in a static position for a period after feeding on a prey and we wonder how this particular one managed to escape,” Mr Chepkwony said.

He said his office was working with the area community in search of the python.

Despite the doubts, some villagers insist that they spotted the snake said to have swallowed Mr Leroma.

A resident from the neighbouring Mumonyot village Mr Peter Kilesi said a herdsman saw the python encircled around Mr Leroma.

“He could only see the man’s head. He feared for his life and fled,” Mr Kilesi said.

Villagers said Mr Lodung’o Tokisha who had accompanied Leroma has been in shock and could not speak for five days.