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Hunting >> Hunting in Africa & hunting dangerous game
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mikeh416Rigby
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Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
Experience with "creapy-crawlies"
      #12449 - 25/03/04 11:44 PM

Have any of you had any close calls/run-ins with any of Africas dangerous snakes, scorpions, etc. Once in Namibia while heading back to camp in the bakie, we stopped to take some photos of an impala herd in the dry creek bed we were driving in. I heard something hit the window on my side of the truck, and a Black Mamba was striking it, trying to get me. Yellowish venom was dripping down the window. Scared the s... out of me! I'm sooooo glad that my window wouldn't roll down.

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475Guy
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Reged: 22/08/03
Posts: 1088
Loc: Kali, US
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: mikeh416Rigby]
      #12454 - 26/03/04 03:03 AM

Damn, Mike, my reaction to a snake strike would've been to jump over the other side and driver would've had to shove me back.

--------------------
Lo do they call to me,
They bid me take my place among
them in the Halls of Valhalla,
Where the brave may live forever.

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mikeh416Rigby
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Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: 475Guy]
      #12460 - 26/03/04 04:21 AM

I never said that didn't happen.

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iqbal
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Reged: 05/02/03
Posts: 778
Loc: Karachi,Pakistan
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: mikeh416Rigby]
      #12461 - 26/03/04 04:23 AM

The closest i'v come to a creepy crawly was once on a hunting trip we were sleeping out on the sand when suddenly i heard a scream from one of my friends.The whole place was crawling with black scorpions(they say these are the most poisonious ones).The rest of the night was then spent in the vehicles with the doors shut.

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shakari
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Reged: 09/02/03
Posts: 1107
Loc: South Africa
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: mikeh416Rigby]
      #12464 - 26/03/04 04:40 AM

I guess I've had my fair share of this sort of thing over the years. Probably the 'most interesting episodes have been a spitting cobra in the bathroom and another in the lounge, a python in the bedroom, and a green mamba that fell out of a tree and landed across my legs ......don't know who was the most frightened on that one. I've also had a few close encounters with black mambas, but so far, I've never been bitten........spat at a few times by the cobras, but as long as you wear eye protection of some kind and don't have any open wounds you're pretty safe.

I prefer to catch and release any I find in the house or camp if I can, but just occasionally you have no choice but to kill them and I find a Zulu asagaii is the best weapon. You just wait for them to rear up at you and then swing at them and the asagaii takes their head clean off If it's a close encounter in the bush I always leave them alone......it's their home, not mine. So why should I hassle them.

An old buddy of mine claims he had a black mamba in an old (nt very) long drop toilet some years ago and in a moment of madness he decided to shoot a barrel of 12 gauge down the hole to kill it....... guess what he ended up covered with

Don't know if that ones true though. Capstick claimed to have done the same thing and this guy was also a buddy of Capstick.

I've never had any real close encounters with scorpions, but have been bitten on the finger a time or two by spiders......and that hurts like hell.

But don't be put off by any of the above.....I've been kicking round Africa for a quarter of a century and all my close encounters could probably be counted on one hand and certainly less than two hands

--------------------
Steve "Shakari" Robinson
Kuduland Safaris (Africa) Ltd
info@kuduland.com
www.kuduland.com



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mickey
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Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: mikeh416Rigby]
      #12465 - 26/03/04 04:45 AM

I would still not be having to go the the bathroom. When I was a kid a liked playing with the Garden Snakes around. Now I really dislike them.

--------------------
Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.

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AspenHill
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Reged: 08/01/03
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Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: mikeh416Rigby]
      #12466 - 26/03/04 04:57 AM

Wow, Mike, talk about an experience!

I've had a few, but nothing like that.

My first trip I was looking for a "ladies room" after finally shooting an eland I stalked for MANY hours one morning. So I really needed a pit stop. While looking for an appropriate shrub to hide behind I heard the characteristic sound of a puff adder near my right foot. That sound will send a chill right up your spine. Sure enough, there was one there, a big one (heh heh, they always look BIG)! It was still cool in temps so I was able to slip my leg out of striking range, though it did not try and bite. It was right under a small shrub a few inches away from my foot. They are beautifully marked animals.

A few years later I saw two freshly caught Mozambique spitting cobras close up. Had a glass over them and they were in a large barrel. You could see them spitting venom on the glass. Yes, they aim for your eyes too.

I've caught some non venomous snakes in Namibia before as well as a few big short tempered leguans (monitor lizards) in RSA and Namibia.

Once, after a brief rain in KZN, I saw an unusual sight. Suddenly the trees had large bright red millipedes all over the trunks. They were huge compared to what I have around home here. I don't know if they were poisonous, Steve could answer that one. It was a strange sight though.

I think worse than any snakes and bugs are a male ostrich, those things are mean!

--------------------
~Ann

Everyday spent outdoors is the best day of my life.

Aspen Hill Adventures

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shakari
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Reged: 09/02/03
Posts: 1107
Loc: South Africa
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: AspenHill]
      #12471 - 26/03/04 06:54 AM

Pretty aren't they Ann....... they're not poisonous as such, but some of them can sure cause an irritating rash....

I love to spend time just watching some of the smaller beasties of Africa, and one of the best parts of having a youngster on safari is being able to spend time doing things like playing with a termite mound or watching and explaining what an ant lion trap is and how it works etc

......an ant lion is the little chap that makes those strange little volcano like holes in the sand you often see around camp.

--------------------
Steve "Shakari" Robinson
Kuduland Safaris (Africa) Ltd
info@kuduland.com
www.kuduland.com



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470Rigby
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Reged: 23/02/04
Posts: 328
Loc: Melbourne, Australia
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: mikeh416Rigby]
      #12481 - 26/03/04 09:54 AM

Why is it assumed that Africa has some sort of monopoly on "creepy-crawlies"?? Here in Australia we've got the worlds best - and in our backyards! Everyone knows about Funnel-Web Spiders, but often overlooked is the the "Jack Jumper" ant - bane of Tasmanian gardeners (kills more Tasmanians than sharks do!!). More fatal attacks on Victorians fishing in the High Country than by trout! I know from personal experience that compared to Jack Jumpers - the common Bull Ant is a "piece of piss"! I never go fishing without a syringe of Adrenalin now!

For more on this nastie, check out this link;
Medical Journal of Australia

Edited by 470Rigby (26/03/04 11:25 AM)

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luv2safari
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Reged: 09/11/03
Posts: 1408
Loc: United States
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: mikeh416Rigby]
      #12493 - 26/03/04 11:08 AM

Mike,

I think that I would have some of that "yellow venom" running down my leg!

--------------------
Hunt with Class and Classics

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NitroXAdministrator
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Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 39881
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: luv2safari]
      #12504 - 26/03/04 01:15 PM

I've never had a run in with a snake in Africa at all. Nothing serious regarding spiders either. The closest was a big black ugly spider living inside the top of my mosquito net. I'm sure this was purposely put there as a joke on the client. No problem squashed spider.

A 'lovely' incident I have related here before. A felllow traveller I was travelling with in Malawi had a spider bite her in the middle of the forehead. A small pink dot grew in size until it was like a very large boil over a centremetre in width. She was taken to the hospital in Lilongwe to have small spiders and spider eggs removed from her scalp. The spider had actually laid eggs in her forehead between the skin and the skull. Luckily there was bone behind the 'bite'.

The fun bit is it grew again and she had some more aracnid offspring removed later in Zimbabwe.

Another "story". A PH once told me a female guest had a sting to her arse when on a long drop toilet / shower and came running out naked. They investigated the source and found it was a harmless lizard. Of course they insisted on examing the bite . Personally I think this was PH BS.

Jiggers are little nuisance buggers. I'm talking about the type in the ground that burrow into your feet and need to be extracted with a disinfected needle.

African snakes are 'pussy-cats'.



--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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AspenHill
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Reged: 08/01/03
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Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: NitroX]
      #12536 - 27/03/04 12:01 AM

I forgot about the black widow in the shower in Zims. It's a reletive of the black widow spider here in the USA. Still marked and shaped similarly, they are unmistakable as a group.

This beastie rode around on my hat while hunting in Natal for wildebeest last year...



The Zulu's in camp said it was not poisonous and I was lucky that it chose to stay with me. Some kind of good juju I guess.

--------------------
~Ann

Everyday spent outdoors is the best day of my life.

Aspen Hill Adventures

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470Nitro
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Reged: 17/09/03
Posts: 467
Loc: Madrid - Spain
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: mikeh416Rigby]
      #12537 - 27/03/04 12:13 AM

I love snakes and I try to find them on every safari. I took some pics of a couple of breeding mambas last year, simply amazing.

Here is one of my pythons


A tip: Always shake your boots in the morning while you are in Africa

--------------------
-----
down by the river on a friday night
pyramid of cans in the pale moonlight
talkin' 'bout guns and dreamin 'bout women
never had a plan just a livin' for the minute

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NitroXAdministrator
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Reged: 25/12/02
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Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: AspenHill]
      #12539 - 27/03/04 12:34 AM

Ann

Is that a type of grasshopper?



--------------------
John aka NitroX

...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

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AspenHill
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Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: NitroX]
      #12555 - 27/03/04 06:03 AM

It is, since Steve is one of our resident PH's he should be able to tell us what it is called there. It was quite large too. I've seen some neato praying mantises and moths there too.

--------------------
~Ann

Everyday spent outdoors is the best day of my life.

Aspen Hill Adventures

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Dark_Helmet
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Reged: 09/01/04
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Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: AspenHill]
      #12559 - 27/03/04 07:56 AM

I'm gonna need valium... I hate bugs!!! but I REALLY HATE spiders...



--------------------
_________________________________________________________________
When someone says a rifle is "ugly," what they really mean is "push feed."

-me

(long live the Mauser 98!)

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shakari
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Reged: 09/02/03
Posts: 1107
Loc: South Africa
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: Dark_Helmet]
      #12575 - 27/03/04 09:45 AM

Ann,

I can't open the image....perhaps you could e-mail it to me. Thanks.

--------------------
Steve "Shakari" Robinson
Kuduland Safaris (Africa) Ltd
info@kuduland.com
www.kuduland.com



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AspenHill
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Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: shakari]
      #12595 - 27/03/04 03:32 PM

Steve,

You should have an email!

--------------------
~Ann

Everyday spent outdoors is the best day of my life.

Aspen Hill Adventures

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Gibbs505
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Loc: BC, Canada
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: Dark_Helmet]
      #12596 - 27/03/04 04:08 PM

Same here, I don't mid snakes, I have only seen a few, but I really hate spiders!!

--------------------
So I can't spell, so what?

Those who beat their swords into ploughshares, will plough for those who don't!

Those who fail to learn from history will be doomed to repeat it

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shakari
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Loc: South Africa
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: Gibbs505]
      #12607 - 27/03/04 09:47 PM

Ann,

It's a great photo, but he's very well camouflaged so it's hard to make an exact identification. However I reckon it's a cicada of some kind.....I've sent the image to a friend of mine who's an entymologist. she's away just now, but hopefully she'll get back to me a week or so with an exact identification....if she does, I'll post her reply.

--------------------
Steve "Shakari" Robinson
Kuduland Safaris (Africa) Ltd
info@kuduland.com
www.kuduland.com



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Bakes
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Reged: 31/01/03
Posts: 589
Loc: QLD
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: shakari]
      #12620 - 27/03/04 11:56 PM

Well I'll be! we get antlions here as well

I can handle snakes and spiders but I get the shivers at praying mantis's and stick insects HATE EM. When I lived in Malaysia the bloody things were as big as your forearms

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mickey
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Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: Bakes]
      #12630 - 28/03/04 02:57 AM

Bakes

Is it the bugs you don't like or the idea that they kill and eat their partners after mating.

--------------------
Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.

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Bakes
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Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: mickey]
      #12676 - 28/03/04 10:19 AM

Its because they are DEADLY AND WILL KILL YOU IN 8 SECONDS JUST BY LOOKING AT YOU. Well that what I tell my kids

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shakari
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Reged: 09/02/03
Posts: 1107
Loc: South Africa
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: Bakes]
      #12951 - 03/04/04 04:01 AM

OK, With the help of a Doctor of Zoology friend I've now got it nailed down. It's an adult male pamphagid. There a a few very similar species and you would need to have it in the hand to make an exact identification. Although some don't even have common names they are generally classified as stone or rock grasshoppers.

hope you're impressed!!



--------------------
Steve "Shakari" Robinson
Kuduland Safaris (Africa) Ltd
info@kuduland.com
www.kuduland.com



Edited by shakari (03/04/04 05:57 AM)

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mikeh416Rigby
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Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
Re: Experience with "creapy-crawlies" [Re: AspenHill]
      #12958 - 03/04/04 07:22 AM

I absolutely HATE spiders. Last year in RSA, there was a spider that took up residence in my rondeval. This critter's body was a good 2 inches in diameter!, and he could jump at least 3 feet! Scared the bejeepers out of me. My hosts said it was a harmless variety. I didn't care, it got flattened with my flip-flop!

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