Snakes and hood rats are not friends

I hate to admit it but I now know that my friend, Pieter van der Merwe is a brave man. The man is indeed crafted from a rare fibre.Pieter and his family own a farm a few kilometres outside Gobabis and I often visit him to touch base on a wide range of things. Actually, we only end up talking about how accomplished writers such as Chris Barnard, Antjie Krog and Dalene Matthee were. I am still finding it hard to determine if these writers were really great or was it rather our grade 9 teacher Miss Plat's threat that we would fail the grade if we don't pass Afrikaans Eerste Taal that made me fall in love with them. Well, let bygones be just that! To be honest, I still to this day struggle understand Chris Barnard's “Boela van die Blou water”, but I passed with flying colours in the essay examination on that book.Ok, so Pieter and I have just finished having lunch and were pacing around the farmhouse when we came upon a fresh track of what appeared to be a large snake. My mind was shouting python, anaconda and all the largest of snakes I could imagine.Pieter kneeled down and studied the pattern of the tracks, before concluding that it was that of a venomous snake, given the way it moves its body to one side or something to that extent. Forgive me, but at this stage I had stopped listening to most of what this man was saying. A snake track, in my terms, means run for cover!“It appears that it is heading towards the farmhouse. We must go and look for it,” Pieter said.“We? Look for it…what?”“Ja, lets trace it and see for ourselves. The poor thing could be trapped somewhere and may need to be freed,” Pieter replied.At this point I am looking at this white boy and thinking, 'You must be out of your mind to expect me to find a snake and free it'. I mean, if it's stuck somewhere - even better for me! Ja, that way I could land a nice blow to its skull with the giant rock I was already holding in one hand.Pieter looked at me and asked: “What happened to you, my friend. Why all the violence?”I looked at him and could not believe that he was actually serious about his question. I mean, hitting your girlfriend is violence … even smacking my pet dog - Tiny (named after its size) would constitute violence. How on earth is killing a snake a violent act?Fearing being labelled a bangbroek or Coward of the County, I followed my friend's lead and went along with his plan. To be honest, I was convinced more by the glances of Saartjie, Pieter's unmarried sister who was peeing through her bedroom window. If I play this game right, Saartjie would be butter in my hand!So, off we went. Within a few minutes, Pieter shouted me to stop.“It is there. You see it? Look, there is the head between those rocks,” he said.My love for Saartjie, the human race and my beloved Mahindra Scorpio bakkie appear to be fading fast! Knowing that I am no Steven Segal or Chuck Norris, I however held my fort and remained calm.Then, out of the blue, Pieter reach out and grabbed the snake by its neck. “Joh, joh, joooooooh … mbuae! What are you doing muatje! All of a sudden my English disappeared and my Otjiherero accent became heavier than usual.He admired the snake for a while, before letting it slither away into the dense bushes. “That is a Mozambique Spitting Cobra, one of the most venomous and highly aggressive snakes in southern Africa,” he calmly said as we watched the snake disappear.“Well, it's a long way from home, don't you think,” I said, trying my best to be calm. Thoughts of Saartjie's window glances keep me going strong again. Deep down however, I was silently singing “Precious Lord, take my hand…” Pieter is either a mental case or he has a death wish – either way, I shall take no part in his madness. A word of advice from a hood rat, my Karoo friend - snake equals to death! Until then… tjatindi@gmail.com

Snakes and hood rats are not friends

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-19

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Snakes and hood rats are not friends

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-19

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