1998 Photo Contest, Nature, 2nd prize
Photographer

Gilles Nicolet

Saola for National Geographic

01 January, 1997

After the python skins have been cleaned and dried, they are sold to tanners in the far north of Cameroon to be turned into handicrafts. Traders pay up to US$60 for a large python including the meat. The vast Adamaoua plateau is home to a great variety of animal species. There are only a few hunters who are versed in capturing pythons. They crawl into the snakes' lairs, grab them with their bare hands and pull them out by their heads. Pythons don't usually get aggressive until they are brought out into the light.

About the photographer

Gilles Nicolet

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