King Cobra swimming

[Mrudul Godbole]

Photographed in Sunderban. It was amazing to see a King Cobra in water. The sighting was only for a 2-3 minutes till it reached the other shore and climbed into the tree and vanished. It was photographed from a moving launch and we were on the deck so couldn't manage a lower angle. As it had already crossed the boat we couldn't get it head on. I think it was around 8-9 feet.

Canon 50D, 100-400mm L IS USM, ISO 400, f5.6, 1/2000, hand held, full frame

Comments and Critiques welcome..

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

TRYST with Nature's most revered, intelligent and largest venomous snake in the world.
It is light coloured, seems to me, to be a female.The near -yellow bands on the snake's back are comparatively broader.
The flicking of its forked tongue out has been nicely documented at the right moment. The raised head upto the third inverted 'V' mark, nearly upto which the hood is spread when alarmed has also been well taken.
It is a very rare nice image,that too in the Sundarbans.I am yet to see such a photograph in any books on the Sundarbans.

Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Sabyasachi Patra]

This was one rare sighting of a King cobra swimming. Mrudul has mistakenly mentioned 100-400 lens. Actually, when we had the sighting, I grabbed the 100-400 lens and started filming. She had to open my bag to take out the 70-200 f2.8 L IS II USM and then click. The image has come out sharp and the inverted "V" mark in the head has come out well. I got about 20-25 seconds of usable film. This will remain in memory for a long time.

Sabyasachi

[Roopak Gangadharan]

That is one big snake and a special moment.One in a life time for some lucky souls and never for most. Congrats on getting this and thanks for sharing

Roopak

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Lovely image of the king cobra swimming. The distinctive pattern on its head is well documented. Its my favourite snake, have a special place in my heart for the king cobra . Once when my sister was in augumbe a king came down a tree and went past her from a distance of 2 feet. She ofcourse froze in fear which was good for her and for us too . This king looks brownish, could be a female as Saktida pointed or may be a juvenile male also.Thanks for sharing.

[Karan Khanna]

very nice picture thanks for sharing it....

[Sucheth Lingachar]

very rare sight... and image came out well.....

[Bibhav Behera]

Lovely sighting. This is very well composed. This would have made you rush to your camera I am sure.
Some more DOF would have been better. Thanks for sharing.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

I may say someting about the 'war room ' situation when Shri Sabyasachi and Madam Mrudul were trying their best to have 'photographs of a life time'- sitting,standing,lying on the front open space of lower deck.

King Cobra likes water and is a fast swimmer. The crew were told not to close in further and to maintain a safe distance.A King Cobra is a very powerful snake and if we were very close or head on, it could at ease jump into/climb up the launch.

In my 2006 tour of the Sundarbans for 6 days,a very experienced crew,who survived tiger attack shared with us how he could ultimately push a King Cobra back into water only a few days earlier.

Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Mrudul Godbole]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

[Kaustuv Chatterjee]

A very rare shot superbly and expertly composed...hats off! Yet to see one in the wild...