The victim’s intestines are the only thing left by the time we arrive at the crime scene.

It’s just after sunrise and our LandCruiser has pulled up at a circle of scrubby shepherd trees in the Botswanan bush. A black bearded woodpecker anxiously hammers away, hoping we won’t ask too many questions. Fragrant wild sage mingles with the lingering stench of death.

My guide Tapologo (Taps) Gaothobogwe gets out of the car and squats in the grey sand, searching for spoor, blood droplets and disturbed bushes. A surprise witness emerges from the ground – a tight-lipped dung beetle furiously rolling a ball of partially digested grass away from the remains. I scoff. Some will do anything to profit from a tragedy.

My eyes meet Taps’ and I sense we’re thinking the same thing. Where did the body go? Who stole it? And is the scaly assassin still at large or was he digested alongside his victim?

Barely 12 hours earlier the same scene had looked drastically different. I’d just arrived at Wilderness DumaTau, a luxurious safari camp on Botswana’s Linyanti River, a 30-minute flight north from the famous Okavango Delta, and I’d bundled into a LandCruiser with Taps for a sunset game drive.

Even though dawn and dusk are the best times to see wildlife, it was a relatively quiet drive until Taps’ radio urgently crackled to life. Spinning the car around, we plunged into the bush towards the now familiar clearing.

There on the ground, writhing beside the carcass of a freshly killed impala, was a central African rock python. At six metres long, the serpent is Africa’s largest snake and an ambush killer. Its gold and brown diamond-patterned hide helps it camouflage in the savannah grasslands, where it strikes unsuspecting prey before using its long body to constrict and squeeze the carcass.

It’s an event so rare, Taps tells me David Attenborough has never seen it. Taps estimates the young ram is barely older than a year and weighs about 25 kilograms, making it an impressive meal for the python, but his brow furrows.

“The kill has come at a cost. See how the impala has wounded the snake with his hoofs,” says Taps, pointing to a gash spilling bright red blood. Undeterred, the snake has extended its great length alongside the carcass, then, locking its jaws onto the rump, dragged it towards a nearby tree. It is trying to move to safety so it can digest in peace, a process that could take hours. This could be the python’s last meal before it hibernates for the winter but his injury has taken its toll. He is moving far too slowly.

The gathering gloom means other predators, drawn by the smell of blood, will soon make their move on the damaged python and its prey. In the distance huffing lions are getting ready for the hunt. Quieter still are the hyenas, who won’t laugh until they’ve had their dinner. It’s too dark for us to stay. “We’ll have to come back tomorrow to see what has happened,” says Taps.

We return at first light to find the scene completely cleared – except for the impala’s intestines.

After weighing the evidence, Taps calls me over like a detective assembling suspects in the library. “Hyenas. Their tracks and drag marks show they came through and ate almost everything,” he says, explaining how scavengers will consume part of the carcass to make it lighter before dragging it back to their den for the rest of the pack to enjoy. Like wolves, hyenas will leave behind the stomach or intestines, almost like a calling card.

But what of the diamond-patterned assassin? There are no python parts on the ground, and no sign of the serpent in the quivering tree canopy overhead. The murderer has escaped and is ready to kill again.

The details

Tour
Bench Africa specialises in tailored safari experiences from $250 a day to $1000-plus a day, including stays at Wilderness DumaTau. Packages can include return light-aircraft transfer, game walks and drives, park fees, laundry, meals, drinks and a selection of activities. See benchafrica.com; wildernessdestinations.com

Fly
Qantas (qantas.com) flies direct from Sydney to Johannesburg. Emirates (emirates.com) flies from Melbourne, Sydney and Perth to Johannesburg via Dubai. South Africa Airlines (flysaa.com) flies direct from Perth to Johannesburg. Connect from Johannesburg to Maun with one of three regional carriers.

The writer travelled as a guest of Bench Africa.