Witch Doctor

A few weeks back Nikki and I went up country to her new Peace Corps training village with a large number of her staff. The goal was to assist in cleaning up the large compound and clear out a bunch of old brush and trees. We had been working on the back of the compound for a couple hours when a large commotion broke out, it sent the local guys fleeing in all directions which meant that I was drawn to the area they were fleeing from. It only took a minute to see what they found. It was barely visible and extremely camouflaged in the area myself and a hand full of others had been just a minute before. We could only see about a 4 inch length of its huge back as it slithered between two shrubs. After the guys cleared out the shrubs with their 8 foot long garden rakes we could see its entire body. Nearly 4 feet long but as thick as my upper arm was the infamous Puff Adder one of the most deadly snakes on earth. It was coiled and ready for battle, the head was as large as a man's hand laid out flat and she held it just off the ground taking us all in. I pleaded with the guys to just scoop it up with their huge rakes and toss her over the compound wall leaving her alive. They informed me that this was not an option and it had to be killed, 3 of them took long tree branches and beat it on the head till they were sure it was dead. I hated to see this happen but I guess it was necessary as people are going to be living and working there for years to come. So in my typical fashion of not wasting anything I collected the body (which probably weighed close to 25lbs) we cut the head off and buried it. What happened next shocked pretty much everyone there, except Nikki of course who probably saw it coming. I held an impromptu clinic on how to skin a snake, most of those watching were fascinated yet scared as hell. They asked how I know how to do this because the only people who have these skills are witch doctors and traditional healers. I didn't really know how to respond other than to say other than back home its not uncommon to know how to do this.. After successfully extracting the meat from the skin we tried to convince the women who were in the adjacent building cooking lunch to grill it up, the sight of the 4 foot long tube of white flesh sent all of them screaming and running out of the house. I had now way to keep it cold for the next 8 hours in 100 degree temps so we tossed it to the Vultures and I took the skin home to cure and preserve it.