Our Trip to the Snake Park

Yesterday we took a family trip to that wonderful tourist attraction, the Arusha Snake Park. Actually, it was pretty interesting and I learned some very interesting things there, namely...

*We are surrounded on all sides by incredibly deadly snakes, including the black mamba (whose bite is almost 100% fatal and is the fastest snake on land), the gaboon viper (which has the longest--4 cm.--fangs of any snake), several varieties of spitting cobras, boomslangs, and several types of boa constrictors which have been documented to kill people. The kids have already learned not to walk around in tall grass or bushes without a stick or reach their hands into bushes for things. But I've learned that it will be a cold day in you-know-where before I go hiking around in the woods here.

*Americans are too worried about safety. Theoretically this was a zoo. My children have been to a lot of zoos. They understand that the animals are potentially dangerous, but they don't have to worry about them because of the barriers that prevent them from getting too close. Our first stop was the Nile crocodiles, the largest and most dangerous crocodiles in the world. These bad boys were about 7-8 feet long and laying right next to the fence. Oh, did I mention said fence is the kind of chain link fence you use to keep your dog in your yard? And did I mention that that was the ONLY thing standing between some people's children and the jaws of death?

Next stop was to see some caimen babies (caimens are like miniature crocodiles) which were about 18 inches long. They were securely kept in a little pen. Oh, did I mention said pen was a concrete ring about 18 inches high--and that was it? And that some people's children could actually reach in and touch them if their parents didn't spazz and yell beforehand?

Then there were birds--they had been injured and couldn't be released into the wild. There was a beautiful goshawk. Ava was interested in the baby chicks that had been thrown in to feed it so she leaned in for a closer look--and the goshawk flew right at the chicken wire (that's right--just chicken wire) to let her know that he didn't appreciate the attention. Next door was a big vulture that was clearly spending its days trying to break out, judging from the large holes it had torn into the wire of its cage.

*Sometimes you can have too much information. Like knowing just how many poisonous snakes there are in Tanzania. Even though everyone who lives here assures you they've never seen one. Or the fact that one of the displays for the boa constrictors included not only the fact that they've attacked and killed people, but actual photos showing a boa cut open with a hapless farmer INSIDE! Really! Now I'm the type whose kind of interested in bizarre and kind of creepy facts, but I thought I'd find those pics on an obscure website, not right up there on display! Good thing it was too high for Ava and Noah to see.

But we really had a great time--really! One of the highlights was the black spitting cobras. Luckily they did put the poisonous ones behind glass, but it was ordinary glass, not that plastic safety plexiglass. So I tapped on the glass to get their attention. They immediately crawled right up to the glass. When I tapped again, one rose about 2 feet straight up and flared its hood and leaned forward until it was nose to nose with Noah. Very impressive. Actually most of the snakes and animals were pretty animated, not like typical reptile displays we've seen.

They also had a camel ride...for about 50 cents, not the $5 they were charging at the Renaissance Fair this summer. The kids, especially Ava, loved it.

So if you come to visit, you can be sure that the Snake Park will be on your itinerary.