Snake Encounter

21 May 2010

Following my stop off at the baby elephant location…

Half way around the island I saw another sign pointing to another waterfall (I hadn’t stopped previously) and decided I ought to take a look. Trekking through the jungle I found my mind wondering to snakes, how many different kinds of snakes do they actually have in Thailand? How many people actually die from snake bites? I decided it’s probably something similar to sharks; you’re far more likely to die on the roads of Thailand than by a snake bite. I hoped!

Then bamm, a couple of feet in front of me I find this bright green long thing. Two more steps and I would have landed on it! What the hell is it? Could it be a snake? It wasn’t moving but looked too brilliant a green to be vegetation. I got my camera out and crept closer, I found my legs shaking as I tried to stand up on the rock in front of it. What would I do if it suddenly bit me? I had my camera focused on the thin long green thing, but as soon as it started to move I lost my wits and failed to take a photo. I think I got part of it on video after it was off the path, and an interesting video of me; slightly freaked out, adrenalin pumped and sweating up a storm. Check it out, my first video blog entry and quite likely my last. This one is for you Paige.

It took me a while to gather my wits, turn back or keep going was the predicament – not to mention where the hell had that snake gone? I wasn’t about to turn back, so I pressed on; a little slower scanning the track, the dense bush on either side and the overhanging branches and vines. Looking for snakes other than those on the path directly in front of you is an impossible task in Thailand’s rain forest. I felt a little better when I encountered a Thai guy and he informed me that the green snakes are not dangerous. However he said the black ones (Cobra’s) are dangerous, and just laughed when I pointed out that it would be harder to spot a black one that a brilliant green one. I couldn’t help noticing as he walked off that he was wearing long pants and gum boots.

I was pleased to finally reach the waterfall after about a 30 minute walk, now I could turn back. I encountered a US woman who had been living in Thailand for the last twenty years, I didn’t speak to her about the snake but took comfort in the fact she was barefoot and said she had been coming up to this waterfall for years.