Elyadhila - The Bird Eater

I had a bit of a run in last week... I was readying myself for an afternoon game of soccer and walked into the toilet building only to hear a strange raspy hissing noise. Looking down, my vision immediately recognized the slithering coils of a huge snake lurking along the base of the wall and set in motion my rapid retreat. I moved so fast as I jumped back out of the building that I might have set a new land speed record! Putting some distance between myself and the snake I regained my composure. The other teachers had all left so I called over the learners since they were more likely than I to have had snake encounters. And as the crowd gathered, two of the more confident (or foolhardy?) boys grabbed an arsenal of sticks and stones intending to break some snake bones. Then ensued a battle to the death, and I was worried someone would be bitten and I would be pinned with the responsibility. But I didn't know what else to do and the kids were intent on destroying the danger. So I urged caution and had the crowd maintain a semi-safe distance as the war was waged. In the end, a few well placed strikes put some dents in the scaly beast, and though still writhing, the danger was averted. After the excitement, we played our soccer game, and I came back a few hours later to snap some pics. The next days, I showed my colleagues and they were impressed with the size and determined it to be some sort of highly venomous cobra. One bite would probably be lethal! So I thank my adrenaline and reflexes for my safe escape.