Mamba

When I lived in the tiny village of Bafata in Senegal, I learned that most of the snakes in the area were lethal in one way or another.  The only non-poisonous snake I knew of was the boa constrictor.  Large and slow moving, these wouldn't pose much threat unless you found yourself being squeezed in their coils.  Anyone dumb and slow enough to let that happen shouldn't be reproducing anyway.  Most of us have an evolutionary purpose of reproducing to increase the species, or providing support to society so that the species can flourish.  But anyone who lets themselves get caught by a slow moving snake like a constrictor serves a different purpose:  food stock for other species.

Always good to know one's place.

There were other, more dangerous snakes in the area as well.  The green mamba is a bright, emerald green snake 5 feet long or longer.  It is lethally poisonous.  The best thing to do after being bit by a green mamba in the African bush is to get off the trail and sit down.  That way, your body won't block other traffic.  If you can make your way farther into the forest, you may spare others the stench as you decompose as well.  Courtesy is always a virtue.

I never saw a green mamba, at least not that I know of.  They tended to blend in exactly with the surrounding foliage.  I did see the shed skin of a mamba once.  It was along side the trail between my village and another.  I nearly missed it, being green against green.  But since it didn't actually have a snake inside it, it rustled and fluttered slightly in the breeze and that looked odd.  Looking closer, I recognized it for what it was.  This one was about 5 feet long.  I know, because I held it up to myself, in awe at the length of a snake that until then I'd imagined as being about 2 feet long.

Even at 5 feet, a snake can't eat a human and they aren't any more interested in running into us than we are in running into them.  We had spent about 4 months in stage (French for "training") before going to our respective villages, and the teachers had warned us about snakes like this.  They told us to always wear long, thick pants like jeans, heavy socks and leather boots.  This way, we would lessen the chance of getting bit while walking in the bush.  They also told us to never, ever leave the trail if we could avoid it.  Snakes hide out in the brush.

They were idiots.  It gets up to 130 degrees F in Senegal with over 100% humidity.  The first time I saw the humidity level over 100% I thought it must be a mistake.  I asked a meteorologist about it later.  I thought that 100% humidity meant you were in the water.  He explained that no, what it actually means is that the air is completely saturated with water vapor and can't hold any more.  It also means that is probably going to rain pretty soon.  To me, it meant that it was too damned hot and muggy, that sweat was rolling off of every body part, steam was rising from the ground and the place was getting perilously close to being uninhabitable by human life.

The idea of wearing denim jeans, heavy socks and leather boots in this climate is sheer lunacy.  It took me about 30 seconds to decide that I'd rather die horribly from a snake bite than be boiled alive inside my clothes.  Fortunately, the Africans had some experience in the matter.  They also thought that wearing a lot of clothes was stupid.  they tended to wear shorts and sandals.  They also didn't always stick to the paths, often taking shortcuts through the bush to get from point A to point B.

How did they avoid snakes?  They know that the snake finds humans more annoying than edible, and will only bite a person if surprised.  So they don't surprise them.  They let them know they were coming by carrying a long walking stick and whacking the bush with it.  They also tend to sing a lot as they walk if they are alone, and to chat with one another if they aren't.  That way, the snake knows there's a big animal galumphing its way and it can slither out of the way.

I followed this advice, wearing shorts and flip-flops for 2 1/2 years in the African bush.  I never encountered a live snake.  I'm sure that many encountered me, and moved away before I encountered them.