NEAR DEATH ANACONDA ENCOUNTER

Underwater Photographer Franco Banfi risks his life to capture some of the most amazing photos of Anacondas ever recorded!
Of all the River Monsters in the Amazon, the one that scares people the most is the Anaconda... Anacondas may not be as big as they are in Hollywood movies, but they are considered the the largest snake in the world judging by weight. They can grow up to 25 feet in length and weigh over 500 pounds.
Eunectes murinus
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CARLO BANFI WEBSITE LINKS

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The Anaconda is a constrictor, it kills it prey by coiling itself around the victim and squeezing. The crushing power is equal to placing a school bus on a human chest. Because it is so big, the Anaconda can eat large prey like deer, sheep, dogs, and occasionally jaguars and humans.
Seeing one of these snakes from a boat can be scary enough. But can you image swimming in the water with one? That's what Swiss Photographer Fanco Banfi did, to get some pictures.
Banfi: I was already in the water and suddenly I come across this really big Anaconda. It was around 5 or 6 Meters and looked like it weighed more than 250 Kilos
Franco didn't do much research before taking a chance with his life to get this picture, but Franco was in less danger than you might think.
According to Snake Experts, Anacondas are ambush predators and usually only attack prey on land. They hunt by staying submerged at the water's edge - waiting for prey to come close. They rarely attack in the water.
In all Franco spent ten days photographing Anacondas in Brazil and encountered no less than 6 female anacondas...Some people call Franco brave for what he did, others say he is crazy. Tell me what you think in the comments area below. And if you want to see more of Franco's amazing photographs, you can visit his various websites by clicking on these links
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SOME FACTS ABOUT ANACONDAS
An anaconda is a large, non-venomous snake found in tropical South America. Although the name actually applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to refer only to one species in particular, the common or green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, which is one of the largest snakes in the world.
Various theories exist regarding the origin of the name itself. The most widely accepted one suggests it was derived from the Sinhala henakandaya since the phonetic sounds are very similar. However, this name is used to refer to the brown vine snake, Ahaetulla pulverulenta, a slender, arboreal species that grows to five feet (152 cm) at most and feeds only on small vertebrates.[2] Another theory by Yule and Burnell (1886) is based on an entry in the Catalogue of Indian Serpents from the Leyden Museum (Ray, 1693) that reads: Anacondaia Zeylonensibus, id est Bubalorum aliorumque jumentorum membra conterens, meaning "the anacondaia of the Ceylonese, i.e. he that crushes the limbs of buffaloes and yoke beasts." Without a clear Sinhala connection, they suggest one from the Tamil language instead: anai-kondra (anaik-konda), meaning "which killed an elephant."Per National Geographic, the word anaconda comes from the Tamil word anaikolra, which means elephant killer.
The name was first used in the English language in 1768 by V. Jonasson in a colorful description of a large snake found in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), most likely a reticulated python, Python reticulatus. The account, which explains how the snake crushes and devours tigers, is full of popular misconceptions, but was much read at the time, and so gave rise to the myth of the anaconda of Ceylon.