A Kenyan man bit a python during a fierce three-hour struggle after the snake wrapped him in its coils and hauled him up a tree.  Ben Nyaumbe stepped on the serpent in the Malindi area of Kenya's Indian Ocean Coast when it was apparently hunting for livestock. Mr Nyaumbe said: "I stepped on a spongy thing on the ground and suddenly my leg was entangled with the body of a huge python."

It dragged the farm manager up a tree, but when it eased its grip, Mr Nyaumbe said he was able to take a mobile phone out of his pocket and phone for help.

When his supervisor came with a policeman, Mr Nyaumbe smothered the snake's head with his shirt to prevent it from swallowing him, while the rescuers tied it with a rope and pulled.

"We both came down, landing with a thud," said Mr Nyaumbe, who survived with damaged lips and bruising after being forced to bite the snake on the tip of its sharp tail.

The hungry snake was later taken to an animal sanctuary but escaped.