diff --git a/python/tests/opendht_tests.py b/python/tests/opendht_tests.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..1944e30bcd26f118512a16b7966e2efe464360c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/tests/opendht_tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import unittest
+import opendht as dht
+
+class OpenDhtTester(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    # test that DhtRunner can be instatiated and deleted without throwing
+    def test_instance(self):
+        for i in range(10):
+            r = dht.DhtRunner()
+            r.run()
+            del r
+
+    # test that bootstraping works (raw address)
+    def test_bootstrap(self):
+        a = dht.DhtRunner()
+        a.run()
+        b = dht.DhtRunner()
+        b.run()
+        self.assertTrue(b.bootstrap(a.getBound()))
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()