Close Brush With Death : Face to Face With Cobra

Two days ago, I went for a drive up to Ceres and the surrounding areas, 90 minutes drive north of Cape Town.  Ceres is a cute little town with a lot of fruit farms surrounding it as well as mountain ranges and rivers.

I find out about a little isolated restaurant outside of Ceres called Toll Huis in a valley with mountains on both sides.  After a nice meal, I had a chat with the owner who was a pleasant Afrikaans man.  I asked him what he advised me to do after my lunch as I had a few hours left until the sun went down and I headed back to Cape Town.  He suggested going for a hike along an unused railway line 60 meters up the mountain behind his restaurant.  The views were supposed to be very good. 

Me:  Is there anything dangerous up there?
Restaurant Owner (RO):  Be careful of the baboons, but they are scared of men so will run away.

Me: That's it ?

RO:  And the cheetahs, but they are small so not to worry about them.

Me: How about snakes?

RO:  Well, it's Africa so there will be snakes but don't worry.  At this time of day they shouldn't be around much.
Me:  What type of snakes?

RO:  Cobra snakes.

Me:  They are lethal, aren't they?
RO:  Well, if they bite you, you will live for 10 minutes.  Just look out for anything moving or making a noise.

Me:  Is there a hospital nearby?

RO:  Yes, but we are closing the restaurant now, but here is the number for the emergency services should you need to call them from up there:  10111.

The path to the disused railway line was overgrown with plants and very rocky.  It was difficult to see what was in the undergrowth.  I walk a part of the way and then questioned myself on what I was about to do.  Part of me thought it was foolish and risky and another part of me was not going to let fear overcome me.  I said a prayer and decided to continue up.

At the top, the view was lovely and the railway line was overgrown with bushes on the side.  I decided to walk away from Ceres and see where I got to.  After walking some minutes, I passed a small bush to my right, on the outside of the railway track.  As I passed, I heard something move less than a meter away.  I walked about 2 meters more, stopped and looked around and there I saw it, a cobra snake lifting its head and the upper portion of its body out of the bush, with its head spread out.  It turned and looked at me with its long tongue sticking out.  Then it turned its head the other way and proceeded to come out of the bush and slide in the other direction along the rocks on the side of the track.

Fear gripped me, but instead of doing what a normal person would do, I unzipped my camera case and took out my camera.  I managed to take a photo of it, before running past it back to where I had met the railway line.  I must have broken the world record for the 100m dash.  Too bad no one was there to record the time.  Looking down the trail that would take me back to the locked up restaurant, I wondered if any of the cousins of this snake were waiting for me.  I just ran down the hill as fast as I could and gave a sigh of relief when I reached my parked car. 

Thankful that I was still alive, but with adrenaline pumping around me very fast, I decided to carry on with my journey.

Bain's Kloof Pass

I had heard that Bain's Kloof Pass was a beautiful winding road going through the mountains and a gorge.  It was down further along the route R301 towards Wellington.  As I drove there were some turn-offs but the signs were a bit confusing so I carried on driving.  Along the way, I noticed a pickup van along the side of the road so I stopped and asked the friendly black guy if I was on route R301 to Wellington.  He looked at the map, smiled, and assured me that I was.  I noticed that he had crates of fruit at the back of his pickup so I asked him how much an apple was.  He said 1 Rand so I paid him and he came back with a nice apple, a pear, and the largest plum I have seen in my life.  I thanked him and carried on.  After 20 kms, I arrived in a town called Tulbagh.  I had in fact gone the opposite direction to where I needed to go, not on Route R301, but route R46.  I had to turn and go back 20 kms.  The guy who sold me the fruits had been telling me utter rubbish  Arrrrrrggggghhhhhh  !!!!!  Still, his fruits were nice.

The Bains Klook Pass was probably the most beautiful pass that I had driven on in South Africa.  It was unbelievably beautiful, especially in the glow on the golden sunset.  I could hear the sound of the river down below as I drove along the gorge with towering mountains on either side of me.