Encounter with a Cobra

A couple of weeks ago, we had a team in from California. They came to do some work at the ministry center. One afternoon, while spending some time with them, we decided to play some basketball. As I was standing in front of the hoop, I took a few steps back into the grass. That's when I heard something moving behind me. When I turned around, about 5 feet away, a 3 foot cobra was raised up with its hood spread wide open ready to bite. It's not every day that you encounter something that can kill you.  I immediately backed away and warned everyone to move out of the way. Then the snake settled back down and crawled into a hole underneath a nearby tree.

These are not the kind of snakes you can leave to wander around the property.  For safety sake, we had to get the snake out of the hole and kill it.  So, for the next 30 minutes, several of us poked and prodded the hole with poles and rakes until we were able to get him out.  Above is a video of the slaying.  If you're receiving this post via email, you can go to this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niQf_GS8sTE.

I still can't believe I almost stepped on this snake!  Only in Africa!