So everyone is right. When the rains come, so do the snakes. The rain is getting more and more frequent. Awesome thunder and lightning storms shake the ground. The heat isn’t as bad as it was, even now that we are in the midst of summer. So, it has been nice not having the sun beatin’ down on us. I guess it is a toss up though, hot and sweaty or wet and humid. What is worse is that it is still warm enough that if you wear a rain jacket you get sweaty. We have had to buy rubber boots, cause the road that we commute on is one huge puddle.
Here is a bunch of observations of Africa.
Everyone drives too fast or too slow. Speeders will pass even on blind corners. It doesn’t help when driving is still a little awkward due to the opposite side of the road gig. And 99% of the cars here are the color white…
Everything is on slow motion when it comes to getting most simple tasks accomplished. For example; looking for a machete, it takes all day even though there is just a couple of stores to choose from. Then there is the staff that work at these stores. Most don’t have a clue for what you are asking for, give you blank stares, and just make things frustrating, even though you don’t wanna show your frustration. The customer service at pretty much anywhere you go is so completely piss poor. They give an impression that they hate their job. But, that is just the kinda way they do things, customer service is not an priority. What else is interesting to me anyway, is when you go into the “variety stores”, the staff will follow you around. Not really keen on assisting you, just follow you. I guess they are afraid of thievery. Most stores have security staff, so after you purchase your items, you show your receipt and your items to the guard. I guess that is a good thing, but I guess you gotta see what I mean, to understand. Like how can you shove a case of beer in your pants between the check out line and security guard….
Now on the snakes. I have been on two snake calls now. The first one was an anchietas cobra that was dug out of a den, not to exciting. Then just a couple days ago we got a call of a snake at the compound where our cottage is…. So Mark and I jumped in the car with the gear and headed down the road. We met Butch and his son Ryan at the gate of the compound. The staff found a banded cobra around some bush and by the time we got there it had climbed up into the trees. I had a hell of a time finding him. We knew of his general location and Butch and Ryan made some long poles to shake the limbs of the tree to get the snake on the move. That was all it took to find him. As I stood there, seeing the cobra in the tree, I felt suddenly naked, cause everyone had a snake hook or other device to grab the snake or at least protect yourself. I had to run and grab a snake hook and next thing I see the snake is falling out of the tree. Mark, Butch, and Ryan were on him in a flash. I lent a hand by pinning down it’s head with my hook. Butch grabbed the cobra. This was way more exciting of a snake call… I am glad that it wasn’t a mamba way up in the tree. I can only imagine how even more pissed off that species would have been, shaking it out of a tree. It was a big reminder though, cause everyone has said where we live is a cobra haven… ohh geez…
For the last few weeks, well, since Mishelle and I have gotten to Africa we have craved PIZZA… So, we decided to make a trek into town to have lunch and go to the one and only lodge that amazingly enough has a pizza oven. So we sludged our way along some really muddy roads and took a Combi into Kasane. We wanted to buy a few things before having lunch and of course the African way of life interfered. Either stores were closed early on a Saturday, closed for lunch, or simply sold out of what we were looking for. So we gave up and decided to go eat our pizza. Can you guess it…. Oh, they don’t serve pizza till dinner. And it was only 2:30.…arrrrg. Hungry, we decided to go to the Chobe Safari Lodge on the other side of town. Well, down the road about a mile away. So we made the trek down there and was able to eat some expensive not to bad, yet not to spicy vegetable curry…. To top off that meal, the Vervet monkeys were out and about looking for a free meal. Of course they made it to our table and got into a little scuffle with Mishell (she hates monkeys). Those damn monkeys….
We headed back to the office after lunch. We are staying at our bosses house for the weekend. We had to move out of our cottage for the weekend, as there was a scheduling mix up with the owners of our cottage. So we were walking along the dirt road to the office. We had to cut through the bush a bunch, cause we weren’t wearing our rubbers and the road has giant puddles in places, making it difficult to walk along. As we were walking along one trail, Mishell was in front of me. We were chatting about having to remember to be vigilant about keeping an eye out for elephant, buffalo, even lion. This time of year they are much more active. We have quickly gotten a little complacent, while walking our normal route, and fail to really keep an eye of the surroundings. Ya never know what might be on the other side of the bush. So, we were walking along chatting about watching out for stuff and I quickly spot a snouted cobra just a few feet away from where we were. Mishell was looking at the surroundings and not to much of the ground and she walked right by it. Luckily I spotted it, yet the cobra was very relaxed and was disturbed by our presence. So, that was our first venomous snake experience on our own and I bet not the last… Fun Fun Fun in Africa…
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