A farmer survived a terrifying python attack by fending off the reptile with his machete.

Pinda, 63, was clearing a path through a dense forest when the massive 20ft snake lunged at him from a tree branch in West Sulawesi, Indonesia, on May 24.

Pinda gasped in pain as the predator sank its fangs into his arm and refused to let go. But when it released its grip for a second strike, the quick-thinking villager swung his weapon down on its head.

The serpent fell from its perch and Pinda repeatedly hacked its body until it stopped moving.

Footage shows him striking the dying python with his machete as it lay in the undergrowth. He was later seen pressing down on his right arm, where blood was flowing from two puncture wounds.

The father returned to his home some three kilometres (two miles) from the village, covered in blood but alive following the horror attack.

Pinda's son, Najamuddin, said: 'We were cooking brown sugar in the garden. My father went to the forest to fetch more wood for the fire. He didn't notice the snake because the vegetation was so thick.

'The snake is more than five metres long. It hadn't eaten yet because its stomach was not swollen. It may have come down from the mountains to look for wild boars, which have become quite rare in the area.'

He added that Pinda's wounds were not too severe and have been treated.

The reticulated python is found throughout Southeast Asia, where they live in forests, swamps, canals and even in cities, causing them to come into conflict with humans. The species is one of the world's largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes.