Cobra Story

“I met Dilan Max in a bar. He's a snake catcher. He captures the reptiles in people's gardens and then sets them free again out in the wild. Even so, he keeps a couple of them at home. He lives in the outskirts of Kandy, one of the larger inland cities on Sri Lanka. I drove there with him one night, to the small room that he shares with other young men. It was there that he showed me his snakes: a cobra and a python. A couple of days later I came across him again, just when he was putting on a street performance with his two snakes and a little monkey. Dilan Max also works as a snake charmer and likes to transport his animals in a sports bag. On that day we exchanged telephone numbers and arranged to meet a week later. More snake friends came to that meeting, bringing along a total of seven cobras and three pythons! There I was, stuck in a room with ten snakes – it was certainly an unusual feeling. His friends were all very proud of their reptiles and presented them with a lot of r everence. This picture, which is part of the series Life Flashes, was taken on that day.”

Find more images by Jan Michalko in LFI magazine 2/2020.