Things I Nearly Stepped On, Part 1

Upon arrival at my safari field guide training camp, our head instructor informed us that we comprised the first training session of the year. Given that our session began in early January, and that all sessions last for four weeks, this struck me as rather obvious. Clearly, this guy was going to need a refresher on "how to use a calendar."

However,  before I had an opportunity to explain the intricacies of the Christian calendar to the instructor, he expounded on this point: "The camp is empty during the six weeks before the first session of each year. During that time, the animals have a way of quickly making themselves at home in the camp. Just this morning," he added, "we removed a black mamba (pictured at left) from tent one." This intrigued (and alarmed) the girls living in tent one, who immediately inquired about whether or not black mambas are deadly. The instructor looked at them dryly: "Oh, extremely. And nearly immediately. It's a good thing we found him rather than your foot."

Needless to say, this story put all of the students (including me) on a high state of alert. This is quite fortunate, considering I nearly stepped on a snake that very evening. In fact, I nearly stepped on at least four creatures during my first night at the camp:

Though this arachnid (it may have eight legs, but it is not a spider) may not appear very threatening, the solifugae (rhymes with "centrifuge") may be counted among the most fearsome predators in southern Africa. Though only active at night ("solifugae" is a Latin term meaning "those that flee from the sun"), this large arachnid (pictured at left) is a voracious hunter and will devour almost any small creature that has the misfortune of scuttling past the solifugae's hole. While the solifugae doesn't pose an immediate threat to humans, I can assure you that brushing aside one in bare feet is not a pleasant experience.

My right foot narrowly missed a common egg-eater snake like the one pictured at right. I did not, however, miss the high note when I squealed in response; I acknowledged this slithering beast with all the aplomb of a young girl. With just the right amount of ignorance (which I happened to have at the time), the egg-eater bears an uncanny resemblance to the African puff adder, which unceremoniously kills humans with less than 1 ml of venom. Fortunately, I lucked out; the egg-eater has no teeth and therefore poses no threat to humans. Had I been a hapless egg, however, my encounter with the egg-eater would have ended in tragedy.

The giant African land snail (photo at left) is, by any measure, an enormous snail. This snail is far larger than an adult's fist and, as I discovered after my curiosity got the better of me, is quite heavy, much like a large paperweight. Were we all the size of GI Joe action figures, this creature would lay waste to our cities Godzilla-style. Fortunately, he moves quite slowly, so we would have time to gather all of our belongings and casually out-walk him. Or out-slither, rather.

While completely benign (at least to humans), the striped skink lizard can nonetheless prove an unwelcome visitor as they seem to take particular pleasure in hiding in tents, always ready to spring forth from their hiding places (subsequently startling their victims) at the most inopportune moments. This little guy (photo at right) took offense when I moved into my tent and decided to scurry across my bare foot when I wasn't looking.