It was a helter-skelter rush among students at the University of Dar-es-salaam Campus when a large slithering reptile made scene at the higher institute of learning.
However, a statement from the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Dar-es-salaam, Professor Bernadette Kilian, the reptile should be a python, which was first sighted at the adjoining Mlimani Primary School over the weekend.
It is still not known if the python is alone in the area or the campus is being infested by snakes, as bushes grow high during the end-of year rainy season being experienced in most parts of the Tanzanian mainland.
The Deputy Vice Chanceller in an official dispatch raised alarm throughout the institute and related campuses and other education centers at Mlimani section of Dar-es-salaam to take care as the snakes could be currently being concealed in tall grasses, bushes and even parts of the infrastructure.
The management of the institute on the other hand has reportedly dispatched a team to search for the large snake, and others in case there are more.
While it is not yet known where the reptile could have originated from, observers point out that, the Mlimani precinct is a swampy area dotted by bushes and naturally grown trees, therefore all types of creatures could be lurking around.
A few years ago, a similar incident was reported at the University of Dodoma, in the outskirts of Dodoma City where a herd of elephants was seen stomping across the higher institution of learning, driving most students into frightened flights in their attempts to be seeking safety.
Nature experts however pointed out later that the University of Dodoma was constructed on an area which used to be a connectivity corridor for wild animals and that, elephants, with their sharp memories were retracing their original routes of passage.
Pythons happens to be reptiles from the nonvenomous snake family.
They are usually natives of Africa, Asia, and Australia with some of their members reported to be among are the largest snakes in the world. Being naturally without poison, pythons must constrict their prey to induce cardiac arrest prior to consumption.