Yesterday we saw photos of Prince William all decked out in his royal best at a celebration for The Most Noble Order Of The Garter in London, England and photos of Prince Harry whooping it up at a garden party in Botswana … today we learn that the royal brothers have been reunited in Botswana to make friends with some of the native animals there … behold:

ANYONE gets nervous when meeting royalty for the first time. And as they began their first overseas tour together yesterday, Princes William and Harry discovered what happens when you come face to face with an eight foot snake with a case of the jitters. At a nature reserve in Botswana, an African rock python was draped over the shoulders of the brothers and began to urinate within inches of the future king’s hand. William laughed off the incident, saying: ‘It’s having a pee. It’s obviously very relaxed.’ But he looked decidedly less enamoured when Harry playfully held the constrictor’s head towards him, grimacing as he said: ‘Don’t put it in my face.’ Harry was also uneasy, aware that the two-year-old snake was panicking faced with a large crowd of schoolchildren, game wardens and press. Pythons are non-venomous but capable of killing and eating mammals up to the size of a small child. They are designated royal game and it is an offence to kill them. But while William got the tail end of that encounter, he got his own back minutes later with a jibe at his younger brother. The pair both vied to have a baby python named after them but William played the age card and forced Harry to accept a less exotic snake as his namesake instead. William, 27, said: ‘You can have the common house snake. It’s the same colour as your hair. Big brother chooses the python, little brother gets the common brown.’ ‘Mine will bite you,’ 25-year-old Harry retorted. Asked whether the princes have a phobia of snakes, a royal aide said: Let’s put it this way, they have a healthy respect for them. The good-humoured brotherly banter was played out at Mokolodi Nature Reserve, in south Botswana, at the start of the princes’ six-day tour around South Africa. Education camps at the reserve are supported by the conservation charity Tusk Trust, which has William as its royal patron.

Ok … NO on the snake … actually make that HELL NO on the snake … BUT, despite the slithery python in these photos, the princes do look very cute. I love seeing them look all natural … well, as natural as one can look with a 10ft. python wrapped around one’s neck. But, snakes aren’t the only animals they spent some time getting to know. After the jump, find out what other native animal of Botswana the two princes got to meet on this visit …

Later they had a close encounter with orphaned cheetahs Duma and Letlotse. The pair, who have been in captivity since their mother was shot by a farmer when they were three months old, were stroked by the princes and licked their hands in the high security enclosure in the nature reserve. They are thought to be the tamest cheetahs in the country, but the princes will have been briefed not to look them in the eye, make sudden movements or run away in case they were to give chase. William said: ‘They feel very wiry. They are not soft at all – not like fur. They lick the salt off your hand. I have seen them do that several times before.’ Looking much more at home in the company of big cats than with the snakes earlier, Harry tickled the cheetahs behind the ears before turning to the crowd and asking: ‘They want live meat. Any volunteers?’ The princes are on a tour Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa, where William will promote our bid to host the 2018 World Cup. They will take more than half a dozen flights each separately because of rules banning them from traveling together.

OMG, I love these photos. We’ve been gettin’ to see a lot of the princes of Wales these past few days … which I don’t really mind one bit. I think these have to be my fave pics of the bunch, tho. Fun, yes?

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