The other night we stayed in an old building which is a national monument. It is called Ou Tol on the Garcia Pass just outside of Riverdale in the Western Cape. The building is over 140 years old and was used as a toll house for one of the roads Thomas Bain built. Today it is used as overnight accommodation with just beds and a fire area, no electricity or water. It was very nice.
Leaving the property I had to lock one of the gates. It was a chilly morning so I was a fast as I could be. On returning to the car I Almost stepped on a juvenile boom slang.
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| Boomslang |
A boom slang is a venomous snake which translates as "Tree Snake". Drop for drop it has the most potent venom of all the african snakes, it just doesn't have much to inject. It also does not bite readily and a special antivenin is required if bitten.
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| Defence mechanism |
This guy was suffering from the cold so Alan with a stick lifted him off the road and into the dense bushes to warm him up. He was very sluggish so the chance of being bitten was low, but still there. As he was picked up he inflated his throat, a defence mechanism. you can see from the previous photo what I mean.
We left him in his tree to hopefully warm up and carried on our journey.
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