SNAKE!
STORIES ABOUT DANGEROUS SNAKES HAVE
BEEN PART OF TRAVELLERS’ FOLKLORE SINCE
ADAM FELT LIKE A SNACK IN A QUIET LITTLE
CAMPSITE CALLED EDEN. WHAT SHOULD YOU
DO IF YOU ENCOUNTER ONE IN YOUR TRAVELS?
WORDS: DAVID GILCHRIST
Great green snakes, slithering black and red snakes, frightening
brown snakes and constricting pythons, they all chill us to the bone
at the very thought of finding one slithering through the bush.
The trouble is, knowing what to do when you’re bailed up in your
campsite by an errant red-bellied black snake or death adder. But
the real trouble is knowing what to do if its stocky body is resting
on your van floor in a tight coil, its arrow-shaped head flicking from
side to side, tasting the air. And knowing what to do when this
adder, in all of its menacing shades of grey or reddish-
brown, decides to stay. Here’s a little help.
A red-bellied black snake
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