Sunday 12 noon or thereabouts. The weather is warm and I have just left Nairobi. I am headed towards Narok on the old Nairobi Nakuru road that weaves through the escarpment. The view is always breathtaking even though I drive down this road at least once a month.
My sunroof is open and I am singing along to Bob Marleys' Redemption Songs on an i-pod that I borrowed(stole?) from my daughter. My Toyota is doing a comfortable 60kph round the bends and the oncoming traffic is light. I roll my window and light a Sportsman...and sing "emancipate yourself from mental slavery.." From my seat I can see the floor of the Rift Valley, probably about a kilometre down the steep cliff. Such awesome scenery. The bends straighten out and before me there is about 50o metres of straight downhill descent. In the distance a truck carrying a container is labouring up the hill. A red passenger vehicle overtakes the truck I gauge the distance and my speed and decide there is no cause for alarm. The red car is "nokia 3310".. Thats what Mitsubishi VRG are refered to as because they are so common. The car is moving quite fast and and all of a sudden from corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of an eagle diving tords the tarmack. It picks something from the road and pulls upwards. The timing is slightly off and the red Nokia almost hits the eagle. The large bird seems to be moving backwards as it smashes into my side mirror. Blood and some sort of liquid are thrown into my open window. something lands writhing in my lap!! I slam my foot on the brake ... in the split second I realise there is the cliff on my left a truck to my right. I look at my lap and find a snake!!!
In a nanosecond I am out of the car, leaving it in the middle of the road and perched on a rock with my heart trying to break out of my ribcage.
I had left my cigarettes in the car and was shaking all over. After a couple of minutes I gather enough courage to get my car off the road. I approach it cautiously, not sure where the snake is.
To my suprise I find half a snake, tail side to be exact, lying at my front tyre. Still shaking I move my car off the road and open all four doors. I proceed to search the car for a whole hour before I am convinced that the other part of the snake is not inside.
Please note that the pictures at the escarpment were taken on the return journey.. there is no way I could have held the camera in a steady manner.
ANY COMMENTS???
6 comments:
That is a damn freaky story, you were lucky to walk away safely. I love the picture by the way. I hope that there will be plenty more where that came from.
kima
Oh my goodness! I think I would have died a thousand deaths (I have a reptile phobia).
I am really glad though that you did not post photos of the snake on the blog:)
Auuuuuuiiiiiiiiiii I almost peed on myself! Talk about a wild adventure!
I think you are a very brave man not to have fallen off the cliff.
HELP, Ngai. Poor man. Like Ms K said. Oh my God I am having nightmares. Do you think Bob Marley had something to do with it?
Forgot to say that the pictures are awesome. Makes me so homesick.
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