05:30 Well what a great start to May… I was woken up at about 05:10 by a little squeak which made me think "oh how cute a mouse in my room, I haven't seen a mouse in this country yet." After grabbing my torch and glasses I soon realised I would not be getting back to sleep as fast as I had originally hoped.
What I saw when I put the pointed the
torch light at the door was snake skin down the crack by the hinges. I immediately got up and slowly opened the
door so I didn't disturb the snake and once in the corridor I discovered what
had made the squeaking. Over have the
snake was lodged in the gap but the other half was floating in mid-air in the
corridor with the portion of its body close to the snakes head wrapped around a
bat.
The poor bats wing was twitching and I couldn't see the snakes head so as it was occupied I decided to snap one photo of the event even though I could not believe what I was seeing. I felt mixed emotions as it felt a bit like a dream like it wasn't happening, although it was impressive that the snake had snatched the bat right out of mid-air (I'd regularly see bats flying about the lodge) but at the same time this snake was in the door to my room!
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| Great Start To May- My New Friend (D.Philpot) |
The poor bats wing was twitching and I couldn't see the snakes head so as it was occupied I decided to snap one photo of the event even though I could not believe what I was seeing. I felt mixed emotions as it felt a bit like a dream like it wasn't happening, although it was impressive that the snake had snatched the bat right out of mid-air (I'd regularly see bats flying about the lodge) but at the same time this snake was in the door to my room!
After a moments thought about how to
tackle my first snake encounter I saw two options considering I was alone in
the park, either I could do nothing and not know where the snake is or I could
move it and feel reasonably comfortable.
The later being slightly risky as I am presently unaware of what type of
snake this is although its colours are similar to that of a Boa constrictor,
which are known to frequent the area.
I grabbed two nearby brooms and placed
the broomsticks either side of the snakes body in order to coax it out however
the snake had other ideas, it dropped the bat from its coils onto the floor
(presumed to be a 'goner') and its tail disappeared through the gap and into my
room!!! I quickly slapped the lights on in the area, opened my door to see/hear
the snake fall onto to floor of my room where it was dark. I slapped on the light in my room to see it
climbing back up into the gap of the door.
This time when I shut the door the snake was trying to slither
vertically up the wooden walls and was exposed enough for me to clasp the snake
with the broom sticks and coax him outside the lodge (the corridors are
open). I made sure it was heading away
from the lodge towards the beach and followed it until it was about 20 metres
away…
I then searched for a jar to collect the
bat and preserve it to show students in the future. However upon returning to the scene I
discovered the bat had recovered and fled - so I had saved a life and felt
better about the poor moth seen previously.
I told one of the cooks I wanted to see a snake, but not like this! New
experiences are great but new scary ones… not so!
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| A More Docile Visitor (D.Philpot) |
19:30 To summarise the rest of this day:
- The snake did not return… yet, thank god!
- El Tigre and another park guard (who doesn't have a nickname yet) arrived after two tourists had appeared stating "we were told the park signs aren't legit…" People! Is all I can say. We enjoyed a delicious potato and egg lunch.
- I read up on some Nudibranch Behaviour, an absorbing book I would recommend to anyone.
- We had some more rain, with some huge cracks of thunder, and even more rain as I went to bed… at 19:30…