Bess's e-mail

This was the e-mail Bess sent to inform some of the other property owners at Simbithi eco-estate of the creatures she and Maurice spotted over the weekend that also dwell at Simbithi. The e-mail was shared with us too, and now here it is for you.

Dear

I thought I would share our sightings of today with you.

As we were leaving to return to Durban at about 15h15, (Sunday) Maurice, who was packing the car, found what we think was a juvenile night adder, in the garage. We tried to shoo it out with a long feather duster, but gave up, as we shoo-ed it more into the garage than out, and we were not wearing stout boots or thick clothing! We left it lying across the back of our garage - and hope it will find other pastures before we return. We saw it enter the garage through the gap on the side of the closed garage door.

I did put a note of warning under the door of our neighbour, unit 47, whose back door and laundry/garage are right next to our garage and whose three young children play, usually barefoot and bare legged in the immediate area.

We left the complex but turned towards Sabuthi to see what was happening in that area and watched a yellow-billed kite snatch a nestling from tits nest, which it devoured in flight. We turned back and saw, at the three dams at the bottom of Tamboti Drive, a large grey heron land with a long, large snake dangling from its beak, which we could not identify. We watched it swallow the snake, regurgitate it, and swallow it again.

All this in about twenty minutes!!

We were also thrilled to see a multitude of the smaller birds, now in colour, that we had not noticed before.

Perhaps, with all the children around, and walking paths being laid, in your next newsletter, or on a board or two, you could suggest thick closed walking shoes and trousers…… to help guard against striking disturbed snakes?

Regards

The e-mail was not delivered to one of the intended recipients because their over sensitive censorship detector detected profanity.

We were told this story over dinner though Bess and Maurice hadn’t managed to locate the offending word. Did you? I did! They watched a ‘yellow-billed kite snatch a nestling from tits nest’!

P.S the snake was in fact a Snouted Night Adder