Friday, November 26, 2010

Snake

Pinoy Mountaineer wrote an article on snakes making me recall my own experience.

What vivid recollection of the snake experience from the previous posts. Encounters with the reptile are unforgettable, thus easy to recall even if they happened years and decades ago. This invitation from the blogger made me recall just three which for now remained hanging because I have yet to identify the snake type.

While trekking on a flat bushy trail trailing a fellow trekker with backpack about meters away in Batanes in the 90’s, a green thin snake from the elevated ridge jumped to the female’s backpack and slid down quickly to the dirt trail. The backpacker did not even sense the threat to her life.

Another recurrence was in Pico de Loro at about the same decade in an elevated bushy trail which we converted to a campsite for the day. Cooking near the tent late afternoon, a big snake suddenly crawled near the make shift kitchen. It eventually moved away but made us speculate, how many more were out there. What species it was is still a question until now.

There was a repeat at Pico de Loro in another climb. While trekking in the open field going towards the mountain under the hot sun, a big snake popped up in the trail. It turned out it was just passing through but it made us stop

The fear for snakes is more pronounced as I have viewed more features in both the Discovery Channel and NatGeo. Not until I can learn to identify and tag the snakes as poisonous and fatal, I will continue to avoid them.

Bordering on safety, I always carry a snake bite kit, but in actuality have with no confidence and know how in using it.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20101205-307160/Snake-bites-two-teachers-during-Santas-Aussie-visit

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