Sssss is for Sssnake. Eeee is for Eeeemun!!

More snake excitement.
Earlier this week, as I was walking back to my banda, I saw a snake in the grass. The good thing about most snakes is that they will move away from you when they realize you're coming. So it did move away from me, but unfortunately it moved TOWARDS our banda. I think it must have a hole somewhere in the tall grass around our hut. We called Papa Lokwii to walk around with his stick and look for it, but it's still out there somewhere. It looked fairly long (probably 4 ft?) and was a medium/dark green with two yellow stripes down the length of its body.

This second snake story, which took place just this afternoon, I did NOT witness, but I got the full account from several eye-witnesses. Josh was walking out to his shop when he noticed the cat, Timu, hissing furiously at something. He saw it was a snake and that Timu was trying to protect her two kittens from it. Josh, Ruffin, Jamie and the guard, Akol were all present at the Death of the 7 1/2 Ft. Forest Cobra. Akol knocked it on the head a couple times with his stick, and Jamie threw stones at it. Even after its head was smashed in, its reflexes caused it to twist and curl around on the ground for several minutes after it was dead (I've seen the video, it's horrifying). There were four toads in its stomach, two of which were still alive and moved around a bit after they were cut out, but then they died. We think it was going for one of Timu's six week old kittens. The boys dissected it (the heart kept beating for a long time after it was dead), skinned it, and are now curing the skin to make it into a snakeskin belt or guitar strap. I saw the skin just a little while ago... even with 1 1/2 feet of the length cut off (you can't use the head or smaller part of the tail for a belt) it is still REALLY long. The skin feels pretty cool but it's starting to dry out too much so they need to oil it, and then salt it to keep it from getting smelly.

Snakes are just a part of life here. A very unwelcome part of life. Now that it's the dry season and they're looking for water, we're sure to see more, so please pray for us, that we would be diligent in taking precautions, but that we would not be too paralyzed by a fear of them. The fact that Erika and I have now had three snakes right outside our hut (two dead, one still unaccounted for) is pretty scary, but we have to go on with life. We still need to walk around at night, we need to take certain paths to get certain places.

Some precautions we take:
Never walk at night without a good flashlight. You can't really enjoy the scenery when you're walking, you have to look at the ground. If you want to stargaze or just enjoy the mountain view, it's best to stop and look, and then keep walking when you can pay attention to your surroundings.

Stomp when you walk. It's not graceful or ladylike, but the snakes feel the vibrations.

Don't leave any water sources around the banda. The snakes are thirsty.

Shake out boots before putting them on. NEVER put your hand where you can't see.

The T's had a black mamba that wasn't much bigger than a worm. They still have venom. All snakes should be killed unless someone can confirm it's not poisonous (some are actually helpful, they eat rats.)

Never a dull moment. These critters keep us on our toes, that's for sure!