Snake adventures in Africa ....

Africa is home to some pretty spectacular snakes. Many are very venomous & need quick action with an antidote to prevent a painful death.

Many of these snakes live quite close to people & even though they try to avoid contact with humans, our world's do collide at times.

Such a time came during out recent trip when late teen nephew & I were minding our own business quite happily until Dad's two dogs started to kick up a fuss.



At first we took little notice of their antics as they are essentially guard dogs so chase anything that ventures near the house.  We then noticed that Zulu, the larger dog, had something in her mouth.

Telling her to 'drop it' was probably not the best command & she obliged by dropping a 1.5m snake on the ground close to us.

 I am pleased to report that my reactions have not slowed too much ....



I openly admit to not knowing one snake from the next so I phoned Dad who was on the other side of the farm - more than 30 minutes away to ask his advice. 'Kill it' he said & keep the skin for him to identify!

Drat - we should have left the dogs to it ...

Nephew & I managed to get it into a tall sided bucket with a rake then found some of the farm workers to come & kill it for us.

It seemed a shame as its colouring was stunning with striking green eyes & a vivid yellow chin area.
The joys of the internet - nephew sent a photo to Facebook & it was identified as a juvenile Boomslang (tree snake) Boomslang, one of the highly potent venomous snakes.

I felt quite sad looking at the beautiful snake once it was dead but my main thought was  juveniles usually have parents - so I spent the next few days being extra careful about closing the stable doors into the house & checking in the bed & suitcases for the parents. Luckily ....

Have you had any close encounters with venomous creatures?
Dee ~♥~