A family got a festive shock when they discovered a deadly snake under their Christmas tree.
Snake
Rob and Marcela Wild, originally from Britain before they moved to South Africa, had just finished putting the decorations on the tree when they noticed the venomous reptile emerging from the branches.
It is thought that the female boomslang snake, the country's deadliest, had been hiding in the festive tree all along before emerging when the tree had been decorated.
Rob told the Daily Mail newspaper: "We'd just decorated the tree and the kids were putting the presents beneath it before turning the lights on.
"We were admiring our work when my wife Marcela pointed to our two cats and said she thought there might be a mouse in the tree as they were staring at it.
"She shrieked and shouted 'snake'.
"'It was a very long two hours until the snake catcher got here and it was like the cavalry turning up but once he hooked it out with his tongs we could breathe again.'