Welcome to The Great Petaluma Desert

The Puff Adder

<< return to South Africa Trip 1999

There is a beautiful small rocky outcrop, right next to the road. These are generally the spots where the plant life is the most diverse and it seemed like the perfect place to show Jerry what the bush is all about! Let's go and see if we can discover any new plants! Leading the life of explorers - isn't that what we all dream about?

I hopped out of the Bakkie and approached the first rocks, Jerry close behind. This was going to be interesting, it looked like there were quite a few plants - vines and little shrubs - that had started their growing season already, in between and behind the scattered rocks. However, I didn't get very far!

There was a rustle, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a coiling movement, and I heard a weird noise, a scraping and something like 'Ppffffff'… I stopped dead in my tracks. Oh my gosh, a snake! And a Puff Adder at that!! That thing was huge. I froze. What if I am within striking distance already? I think my heart stopped there for a moment! Then I started to reverse, slowly. The vehicle was only a few steps away, yet that place of safety seemed so far!!! What a relief to get the feet off the ground at last! The Puff Adder was still huffing and puffing away - what a very appropriate name for this snake!

A picture? Of course I don't have a picture of it!! (Although I wish I did!)

Maddy