|
 Walter Scherer a student from St. Lawrence University in
the States wanted to get some good practical experience
with the handling of snakes. He did not have a specific
research project but really wanted to get stuck in and
get his hands dirty. The Bio-Ken Experience is just what
he needed. Walter arrived at Bio-Ken on the 12th
of November 2007 and stayed on until the 29th
of November 2007. He was a great lad and had a blast of
a time at bio-ken. Walter left very much capable of
handling dangerous snakes. This is from his diary...
From Walter’s Bio-Ken Experience Journal
12th November 2007
…we
thought that the bus driver would tell us when we got to
Gede because that’s what our ticket said, but he didn’t.
We drove straight past the junction. So I talked to the
driver and he let Katie, Alison and I off at the next
small town to pick a matatu back into Gede. As soon as
we got off the bus we made a friend that actually helped
us
 out a lot. We only waited for 10min before picking up
a matatu directly to Watamu. Watamu is much smaller than
I was picturing, only a couple stores around, nothing
big though. I got a Tuk-Tuk to Bio-Ken almost
immediately, paying 200 shillings, which was double what
I should have but I had no idea where I was.
Bio-Ken is smaller than I was expecting, but
damn is it awesome. I’m in heaven! The most spectacular
collection of Africa’s most special/venomous snakes
(cobras, mambas, vipers, pythons, adders, boomslangs
etc..) all very healthy. When I reached the Snake Park,
I was directed to my house by Ferry and Boniface. My
house is really nice, well-stocked kitchen (everything I
could need), a screened in dining room, and my own
bedroom (twin size bed) and bathroom. No one else is in
the house with me, which is really nice. Unpacked for a
while because it was lunchtime when I was arriving, so I
unpacked and ate a snack while waiting. Afterwards
Boniface showed me around the premises for a while,
telling me about all the snakes. I don’t think he
understands how much I know about snakes but I listened
anyway. They have so many Gaboon Vipers (38), Black
Mambas (45), Green Mambas (20) and many cobras all
different species. After the tour I went into town with
Ferry to the Grocery store where I picked up a good
supply of food, which should hopefully last me the week.
I finally got a chance to meet Royjan around
5pm. We chatted for a bit while he fed some snakes. He
really knows his stuff, but wasn’t the most
open/friendly guy in the beginning. I think he’s going
to be a lot like Doudi and someone I’m really going to
have to gain his respect. Before dinner Ferry and I went
for a walk on the beach. Stepped into the INDIAN ocean
for the first time, and boy was it WARM. Small crabs
running around everywhere. Came back and showed Ferry
some pictures and music. Cooked a pasta with sauce
(onions and peppers) with a little bread and a pombe.
There are so many ants in the house, really tiny ones
all over the counters (don’t seem to do anything), and a
huge beetle and a spider too. So hot still, thank god I
have a fan. Going to take a shower and probably go to
bed.
13 November 2007
 Slept fairly poorly last night, crazy
Larium dreams all night. Kept waking up hot and cold.
Had a running stomach this morning so I took some
Immodium before I went to work. Had some cereal and
apple juice for breakfast. As I passed by Sanda’s house,
she told me a fisherman had brought a Green Sea Turtle
to the park to have the Turtle Watch people collect it
and give him a reward. So I got to see Katie around
8:30am to collect it and do some measurements.
 Work starts off with Boniface, Joseph, and
Ferry each taking care of water and cleaning the cages
from 8-10am. I went around with Boniface and watered the
big Gaboon viper, puff adder and mamba’s cages. When we
opened the Gabon viper’s cage the hissing that she
produced was like nothing I’ve ever heard out of a
snake. Definitely a force to be reckoned with. Boniface
showed me how to take the water out of the cage using a
piece of wood to block him and the snake. They all use
snake hooks no matter that they are doing, which
surprised me a bit, but it makes perfect sense now that
I’m here and working with the most deadly snakes every
day.
Today a group of doctors from districts to
the south and north came to the snake park to finish a
two-day workshop. The point of the exercise was to give
the doctors a visual representation of the snakes that
they were dealing with in the everyday snakebite
victims. Royjan introduced me to the group, telling them
that I wanted to pursue this as a career, which made me
feel really good. I hope he knows how genuine I am about
this subject. I went around with Boniface with a group
of ten people.
It was interesting to see these educated
people, completely out of their element when in the
presence of snakes. Just distinguishing two very
different species of snakes from one another, something
that seems so easy, was very difficult for them to do.
One man had a pre-conceived myth that the African Rock
Pythons eyes lure dogs to them and that’s why they eat
dogs. Myths such as these I knew existed but to hear it
from a doctor who also believed it was interesting.
Throughout the tour I learned about a snake I had never
heard of before, called the mole viper. Boniface had
just been bitten by one of these recently and told of
his localized pain, which sounded quite severe. Need to
read up on them a bit more.
At the end of the session, Royjan talked to
the entire group about anti-venom. During World War I
puff adder venom was used to extract large quantities of
vitamin K. Vitamin K helps control bleeding on the
battlefield, especially with amputations. It saved a lot
of lives in treating these cases on the battlefield
before they could get the patient to the hospital. Also,
today, mamba venom is aiding in NGF. This is hopefully
going to lead to aid in re growth of nerves after major
surgery and spinal breaks. The day lasted about 5 hours
of training.
A lot of problems with the distribution and
hording by big companies of anti-venom. The people who
need it most are in the poor rural areas who have little
access/funding for anti venom. Royjan and his team are
extremely active in producing the venom needed and
distributing as much as they can to the people who
actually need it. Unlike the USA and other rich
countries who have an anti-venom for specific species of
snakes (i.e. Eastern Timber Rattlesnake) there is a
polyvalent anti-venom now for treating cobras, mambas,
and viper bites. Only the boomslang has its own
anti-venom.
Producing anti - venom is not easy. The
venom is extracted from multiple snakes from the same
geographic location, and the venom is dried substance
(either soapy flakes or grains of sugar). This raw
substance is sold to a pharmaceutical company in South
Africa. There the powder is added with distilled water
and injected (precise amounts) into a horse, so little
that the horse is not even affected. After a number of
weeks the horse is able to take a dose large enough to
kill 40 horses. The blood is taken and serum is
extracted. This is added with preservatives and the anti
venom is ready to go (has to be chilled). It lasts for
up to three years or until it goes cloudy.
The talk was concluded with a demonstration
of Royjan milking a small puff adder. Was so incredible
to finally see this done, he did it with such ease. The
puff adder only exposed on of its fangs but it was
amazing to see. I really hope that I will have a chance
to milk a snake.
At lunch I ate some left over pasta and
chips. Ferry came as expected to take me down to the
beach, because at noon time its low tide. The tides are
massive here so the ocean looked completely different
than it had last night. We walked all the way out to the
“islands” I saw yesterday in the water. Climbed up onto
the rocks and got an amazing view of the coast line.
 After lunch my dreams pretty much came true.
We got a big batch of little chicks to feed every snake
in the park. Ferry and I fed all the Mamba’s and three
year old Gaboon Vipers. To feed the Mamba’s, we open the
slot and throw the chicks in and close it as quickly as
you can. I know that Mamba venom is potent but when that
first one I fed bit the chick and killed it within three
seconds MAX, I knew. Scary fast. After the Mamba’s Ferry
and I, one by one, fed the three year old Gaboon vipers,
two rhino vipers, and a puff adder. I got to handle one
of them with a snake hook, which made my year! These
snakes, although they appear lethargic, strike so fast.
Even sideways they strike quickly. Ferry and Sanda
taught me how to open the lids of the cages and properly
drop the chick in.
Sanda talked to me about picking up little
tricks about handling snakes. How to properly put a
venomous snake into the bag etc.. She asked me if I
brought my own equipment to the park. I told her no
because I have no real reason to have it in the states
because I live near very few venomous snakes. She said
that’s ok, but should practice even if they aren’t
venomous. I suppose she is right.
Relaxed for the last part of the day. Asking
questions and talking to the staff. Going to cook
Couscous with veggies for dinner.
14
November 2007
Had another terrible night sleep, cooked an
egg sandwich for breakfast and started our day. Sanda
met me on my walk over that they had gotten a call to
catch two snakes. Ferry apparently came over to wake me
up, but I think he only whispered. I was pretty bummed
that I didn’t get to join in the action but hopefully
there will be many more.
Ferry and I collected the dead/left of
chickens from the mamba’s cages from yesterday. Didn’t
take long, but it’s always exciting to go to their
cages. Afterwards we took a while and fed the majority
of the house snakes and fed them rats.
Sanda and I had a good talk about animal
husbandry and the importance of taking care of all
animals. In particular, she was talking about the small
mammals Bio-Ken keeps as food for all their snakes. She
made a point in telling me how important it is to make
sure, up until the moment they are killed, that they are
taking care of these animals. It definitely hit home to
me because I have always treated the mice I feed my
snakes with little respect. I’m glad that we somehow
stumbled into that talk.
There wasn’t much else to do this morning.
Ferry and I moved a Forest cobra into a new snake cage
for display. Watched Joseph and Ferry take the spitting
cobra out of the snake bag and put it into a cage. Very
precise way that they did it. First Josepsh grabbed the
bag below the twist. Then Ferry untied the bow and undid
a couple twists. Then they put the entire bag into the
cage with only pliers holding the bag. Slowly and surely
they let the bag open until the bag was open and the
snake was out. The cobra spat three or four times once
they let it into the cage. First time I have seen that in
person, sure was fast. Read some about the vipers of
Africa afterwards. Met Royjan’s wife Clare who was
darling and extremely friendly.
 After lunch I told Ferry that I get as much
experience with handling snakes as I can, if possible
venomous ones. So sure enough we headed back to the
tanks to clean some spitting cobra’s tanks. We both had
goggles and snake hook with us. He talked me through
what we were going to do, procedure wise and then he
opened the door. He grabbed the Naja sp. around the mid
of the neck, where the hood would be spread, and soon
enough it was out of the cage. I helped negotiate the
snake into the holding tank. Ferry makes it look
extremely easy, he’s very confident. It was my turn now,
I opened the tank and grabbed the snake fairly quickly
without a problem. I didn’t squeeze hard enough to hold
the snake and lift it up with one hand. I underestimated
the strength of a 6ft Naja, so Ferry assisted me
grabbing the snake to and putting it into the cage. Such
an adrenaline rush, good teacher and good learning
experience. Cobras are much faster and more powerful
than I was expecting.
Cleaning the cages only took a couple of
minutes, but during that time Ferry had to give a tour
to some Italian people. So I spent some time filling in
some stock cards for the new arrivals. After Ferry was
done, we went back to go over how to put the snakes back
into the cages. Ferry took the first snake out as I
assisted and then we switched roles. The snake I put
back didn’t go as smoothly as taking it out. Ferry had
to back me up quite a bit, and the snake struggled quite
a bit. The snake got a little to close for comfort as we
were finally getting the entire body in but we handled
it. So excited to get this experience, Ferry is a very
good teacher and is putting a lot of trust in me which
I’m grateful.
After that I headed down to the internet
café because Sanda was heading into town. The internet
and computer sucked didn’t really get anything
accomplished. Cooking pasta for dinner and will probably
read the rest of the night. I have really gotten into
the book “Man and boy” by Paul Peterson, just cant put
it down. Pretty exciting because I’ve never gotten into
a book like this.
15
November 2007
Today was the first time I’ve woken up
feeling rested. Had a good night rest with few
interruptions. Work started off slowly as usual but I
got to do a lot this morning. I was given the
responsibility to feed all the Night Adders (Rhombic and
four green). It was my first batch of snakes that I have
ever fed toads to. The Rhombic Night Adder ate two
toads, which was great. Joseph said they were picky
eaters so I was glad that they ate under my care. Afterwards I was given the responsibility to feed the fo ur of
the Garter snakes too. This meant that I had to collect
about 15 skinks from a tank in Sanda’s office. 2-3 inch
long Skinks are really hard to catch in a big tank
filled with dirt and logs. It took me quite a long time
to wrangle up 15. I was sweating severely by the end. While I was working on the Garters I asked Royjan if he
had any literature for me to read. He said that I should
know the field guide as well as I could, because they
had a good deal to do in writing it. He said I can
always read once I get out of this experience, but now I
should focus of learning the snakes by watching and
handling them. It was a good answer and made me want to
handle as many snakes as I can because who knows when
i'll have these snakes at my disposal again.
 The Garters were easy to feed, all but one
ate at least three skinks each. These snakes look a lot
like California King Snakes (less white) with similar
disposition. During the feeding Royjan called me over to
the Egg Eater’s cage to see something. About .5m snake
had just consumed a chicken egg! The egg was at least 4
times the size of head if not more. I had seen it before
on TV but it doesn’t give it justice. Seeing and hearing
the egg crack in the snakes throat was truly a dream
come true.
Some medic’s from the area came to Bio-Ken
to get a tour of the snakes and have a talk with Sanda
about snakebite treatments. Wish I had been a part of
the talk because it sounded interesting but I had other
work to do. I went around with Joseph and showed them
the snakes of their area. They were extremely interested
which was nice. During the talk I broke off a bit and
watched Sanda force-feed the small Snouted Night Adder a
frogs leg. Didn’t seem like she was going to get it, but
sure enough she did and the snake held it down. Fed the
two Tiger snakes afterwards, and one tiger snake a
gecko.
Had left over pasta for lunch.
Work was a bit slow today after lunch, not
having Ferry there is also a downer. Even so I made the
most of the afternoon. I finished up the skink tank
which was nice and clean now, felt good about giving
them a new home. Sat around for a bit and read some.
After that I took down the Prickly Viper and Green Bush
Vipers and looked at them. I inquired in to Joseph
whether they had eaten recently and he honestly said he
didn’t know, so I gave it a go. I’m glad I did, because
all but one of them ate a baby rat each. I put a new
branch to hang on for the one who didn’t eat, and he
nearly took off out the cage. I had to use both snake
hooks I had to get him back into the cage! Nearly lost
him, that would have been a tough one to explain. I kept
my cool though and got him back safe and sound. Relaxed
the rest of the day, read up on the Night Adders.
Katie and Alison came over for dinner
tonight. It was so nice to have some people to talk to.
I gave them a tour of the park briefly. On the tour I
found a blind snake who had escaped and grabbed him, at
first I thought it was a mole viper so I grabbed the
hook. Definately wasn’t but better to be safe than sorry
I guess. The girls liked the park but were definitely
freaked out a bit. Cooked a damn good pasta dinner.
Green beans, eggplant, carrots, onions, peppers, and
garlic in an alfredo/red mix. Turned out really well.
Good bread and some wine with it. The girls seem to be
enjoying their IDS’s a lot and it was fun to share
experiences even though they were extremely different.
Played some rummy afterwards and finished the wine. My
bowels acted up towards the end of the night when the
girls were leaving.
16
November 2007 
Joseph and I took a spitting cobra out of
its cage so we could clean the tank. When we placed the
cobra into the holding tank, the snake went right out of
the place where there should have been a pain of glass,
but there wasn’t. So the snake slithered into the area,
Joseph was baffled, but we grabbed the snake and got it
back into its cage. Just ridiculous, but we handled it
well and calmly. We laughed about it after the extremely
venomous snake was in its cage.
I took the rest of the morning to clean and
feed some of the smaller snakes in the park. Fed the
File Snakes, Smiths Racer (who at 4 geckoes), and fed
the White-lipped snakes. Never have fed a snake a gecko,
they really love them. Gave a tour to a British man the
rest of the morning. I chimed in a lot of good answers,
couldn’t tell if Boniface liked it or not but I enjoyed
giving the tour. Got off a little early from work today
so I could travel down to Mombassa to meet up with the
group.
17
& 18 November 2007
Shimba Hills National Reserve.
19
November 2007
Today was a bit of a slow day. There just
wasn’t much going on in the farm. We removed an 8 ft
African Rock Python from its cage and checked it for
ticks and then soaked it in a bucket for a couple hours
to aid in shedding. We later found out that it has mites
as well which can be detrimental to the snake if we
don’t take care of it. After, I helped feed the baby
Gaboon Vipers with Bonnie which took almost two hours.
The baby Puff Adders didn’t eat which is not a good sign
for them. Helped Joseph clean a couple tanks which took
up the rest of the morning.
After lunch I read up on the Cobras of the
area, getting to know them pretty well. And the more I
handle them the more confidant I am getting about them.
Gave a tour to a small family for the rest of the
afternoon. They seemed to enjoy it, the little boy
reminded me a bit of myself when I was at that age.
Went to the internet café after work, got to
cruise into town on my fixed bike which I found out has
terrible breaks. The internet was remotely fast this
time which was a relief. Went to Mama Lucy’s to get some
groceries for the week and went home. Attempted to cook
pilau for myself tonight because I bought a spice
package for pilau. Apparently the spices were enough for
5 lbs of rice or something so it was really flavorful
and not very good. Couldn’t even eat it for lunch the
next day.
20
November 2007
Today was a much more productive day at the
park. Ferry and I started the day by taking out three
different Ashe’s Spitting Cobras out of their cages so I
could clean them. I was a bit nervous at first but I
calmed my nerves after I saw Ferry take one out. Took me
a while to clean, scrub and rinse all the cages.
 While I was cleaning Sanda asked me to
create and make a “hanging” device that would attract
flies to the chameleons we just received. I was given
half a head of a shark and that was it. She also wanted
it to have a piece of plastic over it so it would not
get rained on. I created a wire cylinder where the
shark’s head would go and found some this plastic that I
cut accordingly to cover the device. It turned out
nicely and I placed it in the chameleon’s cage and we
shall see happens.
After, I helped Joseph finish up cleaning
the Night Adders and Spitting Cobra cages. Also clipped
a branch for the Green Water snakes cage. Hung out for a
bit before lunchtime. Tried to eat the left overs from
last night but it was terrible so I maid myself a PB&J,
peanuts and chips. Ferry and I are going to cook an
African meal tonight (fish, ugali, and cabbage)
After lunch, the day became busy with the
arrival of the baby chicks. This means that 60+ mamba’s
get to eat. I got to feed all of them myself. Four
chicks for two green mambas, two for just one green
mamba, four for one black mamba, and eight for two black
mambas. The work isn’t done after you feed them because
when there are pairs of them you have to be alert that
none of them are eating another one. The Black Mamba is
a stubborn animal and will hold on to prey even if
another mamba starts to eat them. I found one today with
a quarter of a snake down another one. I grabbed the
snake and grabbed it a couple times and it regurgitated
the other mamba with the baby chick half way in its
mouth.
 Boniface put me in charge of feeding the
Gaboon viper, Puff Adder, both beaked snakes and four
spitting cobras. While I was feeding, two separate tours
came into the park so I had to hold off feeding while
they gave the tour. Royjan knows that some tourists
would not be ok with the idea of feeding live chicks to
these animals. Its better they not see it. During that
time, Ferry and I placed the Spitting cobras back in
their new cages. I got to take both of them out and did
it without any assistance. Grabbed the head, then the
tail and put it in the cage without any issues. When I
closed the door I looked at it and spit directly on the
glass that would have been my eyes. Feeling more
confident about handling cobras. Ferry and I also
changed the water of a forest cobra, which had a very
different demeanor than the spitters. Fed the
Black-necked spitter after the tourists left.
Ferry came over for dinner tonight and
taught me how to prepare samaki, skuma-wiki, and ugali.
First he de-scaled the fish and gutted them. Washed them
good and fried them whole in vegetable oil. The
skuma-wiki was shredded spinach put in onions and
tomatoes fried. Added about half a 20 bob bag of
skuma-wiki. Finally just boiled a little bit of water
and added cornmeal and stirred. Until it was thickness,
Ferry really cranked up the heat. We had a good meal
sharing stories and listening to music. Going to have a
beer at a local bar with Boniface, Joseph, and Ferry.
Should be fun.
21
November 2007
Last night was fun with the boys. Katie,
Alison and their friend “V” (nice girl, talked soo much
though) went to two small restaurants/bars and had a
drink. It was nice to talk to the guys I work with
outside of the Snake park setting.
Since we have a snake show tonight which
will last a couple of hours, work was a bit slow this
morning. It was also slow because I was limited in what
snakes I could handle because of a call we got from the
Malindi hospital. A five year old child had been bit by
a Puff Adder and needed two viles of polyvalent
anti-venom. The only problem is we only had four viles
total. So the snake park only has two viles of
anti-venom, therefore Sanda asked me to not handle any
venomous snakes until more anti-venom came in. I was
pretty bummed about that but I totally understand why
she has to limit me. Because god for bid, if I was
bitten there would only be so much any doctors could do
for me.
 Before Sanda told me this though, Ferry and
I were moving some spitting cobra’s around placing them
in their travel boxes for the show tonight. I took a
large Ashes Spitting cobra out of it box and it spit on
me two times, once in the arm and once in the stomach. I
had my goggles on and remained much more calm than I was
expecting to. I just let it do its thing, and calmly
placed it in the bow without any problem. Pretty crazy
though!
Sanda seemed pleased to see that my fly
attractor for the chameleons was working this morning.
Don’t know if they will actually eat the flies but it
was nice to see my creation was doing what it was
suppose to do.
There was one tour given before lunch, which
took longer than I was hoping. Met Katie in town for
lunch. We initially went to this hotel for lunch, should
have known not to go, but we sat there for 45 minutes
and nothing came out. So we paid for our drinks and
left. The waitress got pretty mad at us but whatever
they took forever. We then met up with Katie’s co-worker
Nelson and he showed us a great local place to get some
food. Had stew and chapatti, which hit the spot. Came
home and took a power nap before work at 2pm.
Got prepared for the snake show the rest of
the day, and took it easy. We met around 8:30 to get the
truck packed up for the snake show. Boniface and Ferry
got a good system down, and I a little out of the loop.
The show was at Turtle Bay beach resort in an air
conditioned room, I think the only room that has had air
conditioning since I’ve been in Africa. I was extremely
impressed with the way the snake show was organized and
the how the material was presented. They did four
categories of snakes: non-venomous, rear-fanged, front
fanged, and hinged fangs. They had two or three examples
from each type. The milked a puff adder, demonstrated
how a spitting cobra spits its venom, and held a twig
snake free-hand. I walked round the room showing
everyone the harmless snakes while Sanda and Royjan
talked. I even learned a lot of information from the
talk. Ryan and Katie made it for about half the show.
Packed up and went home. While unloading I
got to talk to Royjan a bit and he showed us some tree
frogs and how to catch them.
22
November 2007
Today I woke up around 7:40 because I forgot
to set my alarm last night. I think it was the first
time since I’ve been here that I stayed up well past
twelve o’clock. Had a quick breakfast and was out the
door by 8:10.
Joseph is out the rest of the week, so I
took it upon myself to take care of his part of the
snake park. I changed some water for the egg eaters and
house snakes. I also took out and cleaned two of the
Velvet-Green Night adders cages because they could use
it. I really like those snakes a lot, I think it’s
because they remind me of a Hognose snake from America.
Afterwards I helped take out the Egyptian Cobra from its
cage. This snake has quite a temper and is extremely
aggressive. The particular snake we took out was really
large and fairly heavy and needed to snake hooks to
handle it. I cleaned the cage after wards and tidied the
milking bay.
After that I decided I wanted t fix up and
make my own grab stick, one that I will totally get use
to and hopefully be able to bring it back to America
with me. I scavenged around and found a half broken one
that I could repair. Going to have to take it to the
welder to fix it but I’m pretty excited about it. Came
back and at some left overs for lunch.
Michaela and Jacob are coming today.
Hopefully cook a good meal for them.
Panena
and I (mainly her) cooked chapatti, suma wiki and beef
stew. It took a long time but well worth it. Michaela
came over first. So good to see her. Just as I sat down
with her my mom called with a thanksgiving epic phone
call. Went running with Michaela Ryan and ferry. Good
run, beach is beautiful. Came back and had a smoke and
dinner. Turned out really good and delicious. Had a
snake talk tonight at Hemingways. Good talk but wicked
hot, had to wear pants. Michaela and Ryan came. Got a
ride home with us. Michaela slept on the floor.
23
November 2007
Got to sleep in a bit longer today because
we didn’t get home from the Snake show till very late. A
group of Royjan’s chaps came by and I gave them a tour.
Really nice to talk to some muzungu’s my own age. They
were very interested in the snakes which was cool to
share it with them. Afterwards I had an opportunity to
watch the mambas be taken out of their cages for
cleaning. This was the first time I had seen any large
mambas out of their cages.
They worked in pairs, which is especially
needed when two mambas are in the same cage. One snake
at a time, Ferry handling one mamba and Bonnie watching
the door. You grab them about a third of the way down
from the head and pull it out. As it comes out the grab
the tail carefully and the snake is in control. After
that they move the snake to the next cage over which has
already been washed and ready. Some of the mambas were
extremely aggressive and some were not. Gave me a new
respect for these animals. So fast and agile.
After the mambas I went on a mission to clip
some tree branches for some of the cages around the
park. Very successful and I made the water snake happy.
We left for lunch a bit early to take four of the snake
tongs to the welder to get fixed. Really excited to work
on my snake tong, hopefully I can take one home. Ate
lunch with Katie, Michaela, and Ryan.
The afternoon was dead so Bonnie let me go
home a bit early to make preparations for my guests.
John was at my house waiting for me when I got home.
Jacob came over next. Went running and cooked dinner.
Beach fiesta and good times.
24
& 25 November 2007
Cooked a Thanksgiving feast. Ryan, John,
Alison, Megan, Jacob, Micheala, and Katie all came to
dinner. We actually had a turkey (had to kill it
ourselves) and it turned out great. Had a really nice
evening on the beach with a full moon.
Went snorkeling the following day. Saw some
beautiful coral fish. Fantastic.
26
November 2007
Today was a bit slow to get going work wise,
but I had another good discussion with Sanda about
anti-venom. We cleaned the 3 year old Gaboon vipers and
took out three spitting cobras to clean. Bonnie got spit
on three times with no shirt on, made a funny noise when
the snake spit at him. Royjan came over after that and
took some close up pictures of some foaming tree frogs
he had caught. Talked about the next two weeks of work
with me, pretty excited about these up-coming weeks. Fed
the baby Gaboon vipers after.
Bonnie and Benson came over to try some
Thanksgiving left overs. They seemed to like it a lot,
especially the sweet potatoes. Joseph arrived a bit
after the guys had eaten from a trip to Nairobi. Sanda
was not happy that he was here so late, he was supposed
to be back on Sunday afternoon. Cleaned the three year
Gaboon vipers cages which
 didn’t take that long because
they hadn’t eaten in a while. We are still waiting for
the baby chicks to arrive. Talked to Alissa for the
first time in a long while. Really good to hear her
voice, feels like this last is lasting forever for our
relationship. After that I fed the file snakes geckoes,
and hook-nosed snake. Learned that hook-nosed snakes are
mainly sub surface snakes that burrow into holes and
raid nests. So we put its mouse in a hide log it has and
it ate it over night. After that I went into town to fix
the snake hooks Ferry and I took in on Friday. They
turned out good and I’m excited to fix them up. Cooked
rice, beans, and veggies. Ferry came over and had a big
thanksgiving left over meal. Hung out for a while, he’s
a good friend already.
27
November 2007
As expected, Ferry and I worked on the
refurbished grab sticks for a while. Sanda seemed
impressed with the one I was using. Royjan came around
9:00am and had a big talk with Joseph and the entire
employee staff. Took a while, seemed like Royjan was
pretty pissed about laziness. During the talk I cleaned
three cobra tanks. During the washing we got a couple
local kids come in with a snake call. Ferry and I headed
out mid meeting. Took a left and walked a short distance
down the road to a small village. It was a small spotted
bush snake. The family was very uneasy about it but it
was harmless and didn’t even try to bite us. The snake
farm really works, because if we weren’t here these
people would have just killed the snake, but now they
walk down the street and get it removed and get 50
shillings as a thank you for bringing it to us. Really
proud to be a part of the park.
Fed the baby Gaboon vipers after we got
back. Sanda got a little annoyed at me because I was
working alone, so I had to postpone until Ferry could be
with me. All of them ate fairly well. Only one didn’t
eat. I got an amazing snake skin of a Gaboon viper which
I’m really excited about. Put away one red spitting
cobra after that. These snakes are much faster than the
Ashe spitting cobra. After that I went to lunch. Had
some left overs and a PB&J.
Fed the mambas after lunch. Always exciting
to see them in action. Afterward I fed the a few of the
night adders. Pretty slow after that, so I capitalized
and got an interview with Sanda about my paper. Went for
a run at five. Cooked cous-cous and chappati. Starting
new book. Read about more snakes.
28
November 2007
Today was an extremely exciting day because
Ferry and I had arranged to go on a Vine Snake hunt to a
place Royjan had suggested. Royjan also gave the go
ahead to do this trip. We left at 7:30 and hiked down
the road and took a right down a small dirt road. On the
road we met Dengris (a local drunk who is actually good
at catching snakes). He reeked of palm wine and didn’t
speak much English. We headed into the bush after that.
We all split up looking from the ground to the sky.
Dengris spotted a spotted a bush snake, which we
eventually caught. I missed it by two cm on the first
shot but missed. Ferry got it after that with a snake
noose. I held it and it bit me pretty good. Hadn’t been
bit by snake in a while. Forgot it didn’t hurt at all.
We hike quite a bit longer before we hit the “cave”. At
the trail head we let a chameleon loose and waited for a
bit to see if it would attract either a boomslang or a
vine snake.
 Dengris finished an entire handle (in a
Kenya Cane bottle) of palm wine. He let me tasted I
thought it was fowl, but now I know why Dengris smells
the way it does. We hiked down to the cave afterwards.
Nothing as I was expecting. We were in a low (height)
forest/bush land and all of sudden there was a huge cave
that just went down. Ferry and Dengris had to ask
permission to enter (Hodi…) because this was a
witchdoctor area. There were three or four chambers to
the cave, the ceiling had some holes to let light in. A
huge buttress tree had grown straight out of the cave
through a massive hole. We caught a couple jumping frogs
in the cave. In the cave we had to give a couple coins
into a dish as a thank you to the higher spirit.
We hung out a bit more at the cave entrance
setting the chameleon loose again. Still nothing. After
that try we headed off to another small forest. Took us
a while to get there. We set the chameleon loose there
and waited for almost an house, still nothing. So we
headed home, which happened to pass by Dengris house.
Ferry climbed a coconut tree to get us some madafu
(young coconut). Had to de-husk the coconut and chopped
the top off. The coconut milk (more like) water tasted
ok, nothing great. Ate some of the meat inside, which
was a weird substance, kind of jelly like. Came back and
ate some leftovers for lunch.
Bonnie and I finished putting the metal bars
away. Sanda seemed pleased with the end result which was
nice. Wasn’t to much more going on after that. Fed two
of the baby bush vipers but the one didn’t eat. Still
too skittish. Dengris came back and told us there was
another snake call for a “python”. When we got to the
village and the young girl showed us where she had seen
it but it was no where to be found. Did a lot of good
walking today. Pretty tired now. Ferry, Katie, and
Alison are coming over for dinner. Were having samaki,
skuma wiki, and ugali. Should be a delicious meal on my
last night!
Walter Scherer
November 2007
Bio-Ken
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