Mamba Alert

Well, it only took 6 months, but I’ve finally heard about a black mamba sighting.  Now, it was third-hand, but given the location, it was warning enough.  A colleague at the embassy mentioned to me the other day that one of my neighbors told her that a black mamba was sighed, and killed  . . . . in my back yard.

Now, you may say that I live in an apartment and don’t really have a back yard, and that’s true, but not really.  We have an area behind our building that is basically a yard, and that building pets (we have 5 small dogs in the building) use to go to the bathroom.  As you can see below, it’s a grassy area, there are some bushes and a few small out-buildings there as well.

It was apparently in that area where the snake was sighted and  . . . disposed of.  And, back to the yard question, I take the attitude that my friend David took about incoming rounds at US Embassy Baghdad (“I don’t care if there are 3,000 other people here at the embassy, those bastards are targeting me and only me, so I’m taking cover!”), I don’t care if there are 7 other families in this building, this is my back yard and that snake was after me!  You see those barred windows above the bushes to the left?  That’s my bedroom window!  Tell me, who are those vicious snakes going to go after first?

Well, apparently the snake was a baby snake about 6 - 9” long.  But as one of the guards put it, “It doesn’t matter how small they are, a bite can kill you!”  And where there is a baby snake, there is a mommy and daddy snake and lots of brothers and sisters.

In all honesty, given the rocky terrain at Mamba Point, the number of partially abandoned buildings and crumbling out buildings, and the amount of vegetation that grows even in the urban areas, I’m surprised that it’s taken this long for a snake to be sighted.  The mantra from every Liberian I’ve talked to is that the only good snake is a dead snake.  Given a country where there is a very high ratio of extremely poisonous to non-poisonous snakes, and a very poor health care system (and that the anti-venom only reduces the incidence of death from 100% to 75%), that’s a safe approach to take.  Several Liberian colleagues think Ann is crazy for liking to pick up snakes and they can’t believe that anyone would want any kind of a snake for a pet.  

Unfortunately, no one told me about it when it happened so I didn’t get any photos of it.  Too bad!  Anyway, this week’s sighting was a good reminder to take care when I’m out and about.