Hiking With Snakes! North Carolina Is Snake-ville.

We saw so many snakes the other day when we were hiking at Eno River, North Carolina. Growing up in Cape Town, South Africa I never saw many snakes, I can't even remember seeing one in Cape Town. North Carolina, on the other hand, has a lot of snakes compared to Cape Town. Here is a disclamer: I can't stand snakes, the fact that you'll never hear them coming is what scares me the most about them. Seeing these snakes reminded me of my childhood and I thought I should share my recollections growing up in South Africa.

In the Eastern Cape, a largely rural part of South Africa, where I lived until the age of six I saw two snakes. I saw a black one, similar to the one in the linked video and one similar to a copperhead which is also in the linked video. I was walking with my Grandma from my Mom's house in the village when a snake crossed our foot path. My Grandma, without hesitation, beat it with her walking stick and cut it into pieces and we continued with our walk. Okay, so my Grandma was a badass! 

These second snake was when my cousins and I were sitting outside near a cow enclosure on a summer day at my Grandma's village house. Cow enclosures are made of rocks in South African country-side and they make for nice hiding places for snakes and other reptiles. A snake, in a panic, came out from under the cow enclosure's rocks and slithered over my cousin's shoulder and ran away as soon as we screamed; it did not bite him amazingly. It must have gotten scared from the sound of the screaming kids.

Then I moved to North Carolina and have already had three encounters with snakes in my residence alone and countless others in the wild. I hike a lot and coming across snakes is inevitable. I have a healthy fear of them. Though I get absolutely nervous when I'm in my garden because I cannot account for the snake that I saw slithering at the bottom of my garden one time. One would have thought Africa would have a lot of more snakes than the USA. But the USA is a largely a jungle compared to South Africa. South Africa has a lot more plains and open spaces. I was shocked to see so many snakes in America.

My family has an interesting relationship with snakes, if you want to call it a relationship. My husband sees snakes a lot in his golf outings. He is not scared of them and has killed more snakes with his golf club than he's had hole-in-ones lol!

Luke, my son, was very fascinated with snakes. Like most kids, he learned a lot about them and can easily identify venomous ones. But, when he had an encounter with a copperhead snake by our trash can, he came in running inside the house and called on his Dad. His theories about them were superseded by the very real possibility of being bitten by a snake. My husband took care of it.

My daughter loves snakes; I don't know why! Obviously, she won't run into a snake, but she isn't afraid of them or is not creeped out by them. She is afraid of watching sharks on tv and yet isn't afraid of letting a snake, non-poisonous snake, slither around her neck. How is that even logical?

 I, on the other hand, don't trust snakes period! I can't stand them. I can't stand their slithering ways.

North Carolina is full of snakes and they come out during spring and summer to enjoy the warm temperatures. This makes it dangerous to hike in the summer. But the lure of the beautiful greenery and absolutely beautiful hiking weather make it impossible to resist. To protect myself, I always bring a stick to my hikes. I feel naked without it. Maybe what I need. I have to have a way of keeping snakes at bay if necessary and a stick is an easy, harmless way to do so.