A South African man found a novel solution when he was attacked by a python on his way home from work: he bit it.

The man, Lucas Sibanda from Pretoria, said the snake came at him on a narrow path near his home and started to coil itself around him -- apparently trying to suffocate and then swallow him.

Mr Sibanda told the Star newspaper that he sank his teeth into the python's neck, at the same time kicking and punching it until it eventually let him go.

He killed it with a stick -- and says he plans to hang the snake skin outside his house as proof if anyone doesn't believe his story.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service