First Aid and Snakes

First Aid course first, followed by snake handling.....hhhmmmm, wonder why it is that way around :)

We both passed our first aid but boy was it hard work.  For the practical the trainer made us 'save' a guest who had been 'mauled' by lions out on the plains.  And they made this realistic by using false blood, torn limbs etc on one of our students (the biggest one) and really did place him about 500 metres from the school out on the plains.  So not only did we have to deal with his injuries we also had to put him on a stretcher and carry him all the way back to the school.

It was a hot day and to say we were sweating buckets afterwards would be a slight understatement.  We were exhausted although you will be pleased to know our patient survived.  We have now put the patient on a strict diet of lettuce leaves and salad from now on though as he seriously needs to lose weight!

Another 'fun' part of the first aid training was the pictures that Jens (trainer) showed us.  He is also a paramedic in Jo'berg and he had some pretty gruesome pictures of injuries including lion maulings, snake bites, and our favourite, someones hand shreaded in an office shreader.  Trust me, it sounds as gruesome as the pictures looked - it's gonna make me think twice about using the shreader in future.

The snake handling part of the course was, to put it midly, brilliant :)  We specificaly chose the Entabeni course because it had extra courses like this so we were pleased to find it as thrilling as we expected.

Jens, the trainer, brought 4 of his most venemous snakes along for us to handle (and this included the most venemous snake in S. Africa, the Boomslang).  The 4 snakes were the Puff Adder (this accounts for the most snake bites in S. Africa), the Boomslang (as I say, the most venemous), the Rhinkals (spits and bites) and the Snouted Cobra (a very aggressive snake indeed).

The way to handle most snakes is via a 'snake hook', which is basically a long stick (say a golf club shaft) with a small hook on the end.  The idea is then to hook the snake at the head end, and grab its tail to pick it up - this way (hopefully) it can't bite you.  Luckily Jens had a piece of string (!) for us to practice on before he let out the snakes....hmmm, hope this goes well!

First snake out was the Puff Adder - quite a short bodied snake but quite bulky and slow.  Due to its small length we couldn't grab its tail, we just had to use the hook.  Jens showed us how to do it (looked easy) and one by one we had a go too, and yep, it was quite easy.  But at all times we had to keep reminding ourselves that what we were handling here was the snake responsible for the most bites in S. Africa, and estimated to bite about 1 in 50 South Africans!

We then had a go with the Rinkhals - this is a smlalish (about 1 metre) snake with a hood like a cobra.  It is black and white and in addition to biting it also spits venom, so we had to wear eye goggles.  For this last we could do the 'hook and tail' technique (again Jens showed us how to do it first).  This was so much more personal than the Adder, as with the Rinkhals by grabbing its tail you were actually touching the snake.  It just felt so weird to be grabbing the tail of a dangerous snake, and holding it up in the air.  It was a fairly aggressive snake but we all easily controlled it.

Jens then brought out what I can only describe as one pissed off Snouted Cobra.  About 1.2 metres long and intent on biting anyone who was stupid enough to come close - and a bite of this bad boy would put you in hospital for some time!

The first go I had with this snake went really well - it turned its back on me (I'd like to think I manouvered it perfectly into position but I think it fixed on someone else to bite first), so I hooked it and tailed it in one fell swoop.  How much easier could it be - everyone was impressed as the guy before me had struggled somewhat as the snake kept lunging at it :)  Rach also struggled the first time for the same reason (hee hee).

We put the snouty away and Jens got the Boomslang out - this was a massive 1.8 metres and far too fast for us to handle safely ourselves so Jens hooked and tailed it for us and we just got to hold her.  And she was the most magnificient snake - if you don't know what one of these looks like have a search on the internet and you'll see what I mean.  A beautiful green snake, perfectly adapted to life in the trees which is where they live.

After we all had a hold of the Boomy, Jens got the Snouty back out for those of us who wanted more practice.  Clearly, as I had been such an expert the first time it seemed only right that I show everyone how it is done a second time.  Oh, how wrong was I ;)  This time the Snouty fixed on me and attacked me time and again - each time she struck I had to jump backwards to avoid being bitten. 

She was never that close to me in reality, but at the time it felt close.  This time, anyway, it took about 3 or 4 minutes at least to get behind the snake to hook her correctly so that I could also grab her tail (there were many failed attempts in between where I grabbed the tailonly for the head to come lose and have her strike at me).  I think by the end of it we were both nackered but it was a great experience and showed Rach and I exactly how to catch a snake correctly without getting that fatal bite.  


In all we had a superb time and a big thanks to the big German Jens :)