This took place in Tanzania. It is a real story - and scared me silly!
Great story, and thank God there weren't any clumsy elephants around.
Only snake story I personally have from Africa is one night in my room. By the dim light of my kerosene lantern I made out a compact grey round shape stuffed in the corner of a ledge right above my bed. Strangely enough my first thought was it was my thick wool socks bundled up, of which I actually had a pair. Almost grabbed it.
Closer inspection revealed it was a vine snake, only moderately venomous. So I got my palm frond switch broom and gently prodded it into motion, it uncoiled and crawled along the ledge. When it got to the window I opened the hatch that let you reach out through the screen to close the wooden blinds (no glass) and gently steered it out.
Scariest snake story I got other than was the squat night adder I coulda stepped on right outside my door one night. The scariest snake story much worse than that was the poor girl at our school who stepped over a log and got bitten in the heel by the black cobra hidden underneath. I think the fright might have killed her as much as the venom did.
I never worried about snakes myself over there, tho I was in the bush quite a lot bird watching. One time after the coup I even walked two miles through the forest between villages by moonlight without a light so as to avoid the patrols after curfew.
Most notable wildlife sighting, other than fleeting glimpes of deer-like bushbucks (??), was a little black weasel that stuck its head out some weeds one day as I was sitting quietly on a log in the forest. It peered at me for a moment, growled, and then disappeared.
Other than that, the large predatory bats, big as a hawk, that would cruise low over open areas. I believe they mostly preyed upon lizards and such picked up off of the ground and branches. You'd be walking in the late evening along a road or path when suddenly the low droning hum of its sonar would seemingly come from inside your head as it ranged you. Then the bat would pass from behind, its wings sometimes sounding like a bedsheet flapping in the wind.
Birdwatcher
