The other day I walked into the nursery to change a nappy and there was another green snake slithering over the baby’s sock drawer.

I had a good look, heart pumping, and phone out to capture a fuzzy photograph for posterity (and Facebook).

Then I closed the door quickly so that it didn’t find its way around the rest of the house.

When we came back with a bucket and tongs, it had disappeared.

The western Natal green snake, exploring the things in the baby’s room.

It was just a Western Natal Green snake, probably the one that lives in the spiky tree right off the porch. What if it wasn’t, though? Snakes are daily features in Oribi Gorge.

A scorching day brings gorgeous cobalt skies and blows away the rolling mist, but it also beckons to the creatures that keep this ecosystem thriving.

We have all sorts on the doorstep, venomous and harmless, which is why my children wear gumboots in the yard.

The deadliest are the black mambas, boomslang, vine snakes, puff adders, and Mozambique spitting cobras, but there’s a long list for herpers to tick off.

Natal black snakes are common but rarely seen, and night adders seem to find my house the most attractive place on earth – I have been bitten once, and my poor builder twice!

There are also perilous green mambas, though not endemic to Oribi Gorge.

I’ve no idea why someone would put us in that danger, but these ones are dropped here from all your coastal ‘rescues’ to upset the balance of nature (and give this Oribi Mom slithery nightmares).

We live at peace with the vast number of harmless or mildly venomous snakes that keep our rat and frog population in check.

There are feisty and fearless Heralds, lightning-fast grass snakes, and the super green climbers, like the dainty spotted bush snakes with their orange eyes and pretty black spots.

I wasn’t even going to mention the python population as those are ‘safe,’ right? (not in Francistown, Botswana, apparently). I’d rather have the egg-eater that visited our chicken coop – no teeth or venom!

A Wild and Beautiful Life With Snakes on the Farm

I have two small children, and two fluffy white bunnies hopping about the garden.

Many people are horrified by our close encounters, like the huge baboon spider in the bathroom, harmless but hairy.

For two days, it kept watch over the toilet paper, which lay unused until he moved off.

Scorpions abound, but most are harmless to humans, though the sting is like fire.

This is Africa, but not always that wildness we associate with Jock of the Bushveld characters. It’s also home.

Perhaps, this is how we are meant to live – a bit of healthy awareness never hurt anyone who walked closely with the living things of the earth.

So far, it’s working for us, even when lines are crossed by cheeky green snakes in my baby’s room.

Published here.