Getting hotter with each day. Practically impossible to do anything between noon and 3pm except lie on bed wearing a wet T-shirt and read. The only respite from the heat is lying next to a woman also wearing a wet T-shirt.
Known locally as the 'snake season' it's the time of year when you have to be little more careful when in the bush. A local WWF (World Wildlife Fund) guy spotted a four metre Egyptian Spitting Cobra yesterday, slithering through a pile of dead leaves not far from here. Generally, snakes avoid human contact and will get out of the way, if they hear you coming, so general advice is to make as much noise as possible when out walking.
Puff Adders are the exception to the rule, because they like to bask in the sun and are well camouflaged. Their bite is nasty but rarely fatal if you can get to a doctor in time. The worst snake here is the Black Mamba, which is very slender snake with a coffin-shaped head. They grow up to four metres long and their toxic bite can kill an adult human in less than ten minutes. They are known to raise their body two thirds of the ground before they strike and even chase their prey if it attempts to escape. They definitely not on my 'things to see and do' list.
Elle has gone out today with Robin, the Wild dog man to track down a hyena den, based on the information and locations supplied by the GSM tracking collar which she managed to download to her computer yesterday. The hyena in question has cubs, and if she can locate the den, she will place a remote camera opposite to record any activity. She is very excited about this.
I saw my first spotted hyena about ten days ago. Elle darted one and I was able to observe it up close. They are rather strange looking animals. There forelegs are longer than their hind legs which gives them a distinctly sloped look and a running gait like Quasimodo. Their brown spots are generally quite blotchy and they have a slate grey head like a giant rodent full of bone-crushing teeth. Elle thinks they look really 'cute'. They remind me of a bad acid trip in my late teens.
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Having trouble sleeping, not because of the heat you understand, this being very early on a wet September morning, which has followed 31 wet August mornings, and a further 31 wet July mornings. Have just been applying Difene gel into Sean's left foot. He has had a nasty attack of shingles and the resultant neuropathic pain is proving very trying. He is not your ideal patient, and my nursing patience is wearing pretty thin. The golf course is my escape, and there are no snakes to worry about. I find it quite surreal that you sit in the African bush and I sit in the Irish rain and we can be in instant communication. Amazing. How did Stanley and Livingston manage without dongles is the sort of silly question that occurs to me at 04.00. All good wishes to you and the lovely Elle who I'm so glad you've found. Val
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