Snake goes along for 170km ride
2009-03-03 22:48
Pretoria - The guardian angels of a Pretoria man "were working overtime" as he and his wife drove 170km with a dangerous Mozambique spitting cobra in their car.
Gordon Parratt, 69, remained calm while the undesirable 85cm-long passenger wound itself around his leg on several occasions.
He and his 65-year-old wife, Ilda, of Moreleta Park east of Pretoria, left the Biyamiti rest camp in the Kruger National Park on Friday.
After several kilometres Gordon felt something like an insect brush against his leg and foot and wiped it away.
As he was doing so again, he looked down and saw a snake next to his left foot. It looked like a Mozambique spitting cobra.
Although he was rattled, he remained calm and told his wife they had a "passenger".
"Fortunately I'm not the panicky type. My wife immediately put her feet up on the dashboard."
Thought car would be stolen
In Hazyview they stopped at a taxi rank but "I didn't want to get out there and leave my car because I was scared it would be stolen".
The couple then drove to the reptile park in Hazyview. They removed "everything that could move" from the car, but couldn't find the snake.
Ilda said the staff wanted them to leave the car and arrange other transport home, but her husband wouldn't have it.
An official at the reptile park gave them two rolls of stretch plaster.
If the snake should strike, they could use it to make a tourniquet to prevent the poison from spreading.
"I also asked them to alert all the medical centres along the way so that I could stop there, if need be," Gordon said.
Later on he once again noticed the snake near his foot. At that point he couldn't stop because they were in a pass.
Snake winds up leg in heavy traffic
"At Sabie we stopped, but couldn't find the snake.
"About 15km from Lydenburg the snake wound itself around my left leg and ankle. Its head came up to my knee.
"The traffic was heavy and it was raining hard, but I kept calm," he said.
Just before Lydenburg the couple stopped and enquired about a snake expert. Hein Geldenhuys, 49, was called.
After dropping his wife off at a guesthouse, Gordon drove to Geldenhuys's house.
Geldenhuys caught the cobra. "All you could see was venom flying," Gordon said.
Geldenhuys said a snake in a car is a nightmare. "Fortunately I managed to catch the snake without injuring it."
He was surprised to see "how calm the oom was".
He said these snakes are very dangerous because their venom attacks the nervous system and the body's soft tissues.
"The oom was very lucky. The Lord protected him and his guardian angels were definitely working overtime."