A Puff Adder is one of my favourite snakes not just because they are beautiful but they are masters of camouflage. They can lie in a bundle of leafs and you will not even know it is there, most of your adders are short and stubby and rely on their camouflage to catch their prey. They have front hinge fangs that are folded back within their sheaths against the roof of the mouth the colour of a Puff Adder can also change depending on their habitat. They are common in South Africa and will hiss when they feel threatened. Bites are very painful and the venom is cytotoxic (cell destroying ). Even if a puff adder is fat and short they can swim very well.

After the long winter snakes are more active now hence we had a little incident lately:

It was late in the afternoon when the restaurant manageress ( Lettie ) came running in to the office white as a ghost. She could barley speak all she could say was SSSSNAKE.

Most of the local people are scared of anything that looks like a snake , what she saw was one big fat Puff Adder in the ranger room the room where we keep the bags and blankets for the game drives. All the guys were in the field and of course I love to rescue the puff adder. I got the snake stick and a special bucket, she hissed and made her self even fatter.

It was a really cool experience.   I have never seen such a fat puff adder. We released her far away from the lodge.

What a happy ending for me and the puff adder,  when she disappear into the grass.  Snakes are just misunderstood and that is why they are killed. When you get to learn more about them they are very interesting creatures.