Tuesday night proved to be more eventful than expected as Liam, Louise and I returned home from a six hour long cricket match (which was only HALF the game as Louise and I, thankfully, persuaded Liam to leave early…) As this was my first night here I was still learning the ins and the outs of our farm house. Situated out along the main road through the vineyards, our place is nothing fancy but chock full of all the amenities that we need to call it home for the remainder of our stay here. With millipedes inching across the floors and the occasional mosquito darting around, I tried my best to relax as best I could while defending my bubble. After de-millipeding the arm chair I eased up a bit and relaxed. My room and bed had been properly searched earlier and I was content to settle in for the night.
Propped up in the living room and in the midst of conversation, Louise draws our attention to an intruder in the room. Just below Liam’s chair, a small brown snake head pops out. Taking care to not disturb it we all retract our legs but remain focused on its whereabouts.
Shit! A snake. Is it poisonous? None of us have a clue. I sit there a moment contemplating our actions as Louise begins shouting at Liam to take control and call for help. Slowly Liam exits the room, but returns quickly to snap a shot.
“Shit, Liam, Go! What if it’s poisonous and bites you!” With that he turns and runs two doors down to ask for help and confirmation of the danger we think we might be in.
During Liam’s call for help, Louise explains the seriousness of this situation to me as I watch on calmly. “It could be two kinds of snakes – both of which are poisonous and deadly if they bite you. If you get bitten by one, the snake venom moves through your blood to your heart and the instant it hits your heart, you die. You have exactly 20 minutes to get a dose of the antivenom to live. The other snake’s venom eats away at your skin cells and kills them one after the other.”
Oh shit, really!?
“Yes, really” Apparently not wanting to scare me, Louise and Liam purposely did not mention the dangers of crossing snakes in our area. But look at this snake, it’s brown – not danger colors like red or orange – so perhaps its just a garden snake?
When Liam returns moments later he is armed with a pitch fork and our neighbor, or savior more like, Jonas, by his side yielding a wooden spear. With caution, Louise lifts the chair towards her and with a quick, brute force Jonas lops the snake in half with the long end of the spear. The snake dies instantly.
“What is it?” We question, “Is it poisonous?”
“Oh, yes” Jonas answers
“Really? Oh god. But do you know what it was?”
“Brown cobra”
Shit!! The reality of the situation sets in. We laugh at our stupidity, and the mortal chances that were just at stake. To think, that if Louise had never spotted the snake lying below Liam’s feet – he could have been bitten by that baby. A baby with no control of its venom and more lethal than a full-grown snake as it would release more venom upon attack. We would have no more than 20 minutes to drive to the nearest hospital, which unfortunately for us is 15 minutes away. So even if we lost no time, our chances of saving Liam would not be good.
But thankfully, the latter was not the case and we are all healthy, alive and ready to start work on Monday. Now I feel I have been properly introduced to the South African farm lands and I will constantly keep my wits about me – even if presented with another cute baby snake. There’s talk of a king cobra roaming the property still, so maybe we’ll be eating a nice brai (or bbq) come harvest ;)
That's a little bit of craziness! Be careful out there.
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