had to battle it out alone. To start with I drank lots of black coffee and tea but later  even that was impossible with my lips and tongue so swollen. Eventually I fell asleep and luckily woke up in the morning feeling much better.  The swelling quickly subsided, and  the site of the bite was sore for about three days, and I was back to normal with only two tiny scabs to show for all the trouble and where I had been bitten. 
It  was a warning that even if you are bit by a small snake whose fangs are less than ¼ inch , don’t take any chances, slice a razor blade through each fang mark, and if you have it give an inject of anti venine around the site. A small snake like that can make one very ill and possibly even kill you by being non-chalant  if you don’t do something at the time immediately before  the poison is properly in your blood stream.
4. Elephant Again.

Mike and I again were out shooting elephant somewhere near Makania in the Luangwa valley and that night there were elephant trumpeting and crashing trees all around us. We had camped right out in the bush with a couple of African boys and obviously there was a very large herd close by. So at first light with Timothy and Mchacha we set to find out where they were.,and shortly after we found the spoor of two large bulls and their dung was still steaming so they must be close by. I tried to catch up with them before they got too far as early in the morning elephants tend to go off to look for shade before  the sun is too high, and the shade might be miles away. Also once the sun got up it would make whirlwinds that would carry my scent in circles and I would never get anywhere near. So we did the boy scout trot which involves running for 100 paces, then walking 100 paces and in that way one covers the ground quickly. After half an hour or so we found their tracks had got mixed up with a herd of cows and youngsters.  It was a puzzle as to which way they had gone which we were trying to work out. The vegetation here was unusual as it was very thick but low mopani, the largest being only about three inches thick and about 20 ft high at the most . The leaves were low and dense making it hard to see and added to which there were no large substantial  trees that one could shin up in an emergency. Whilst all this was being taken in there was the crack of a rifle shot not so far away. Now the only person who this could be was possibly a game ranger, presumably sent to spy on me, and taking an opportunist shot to get something to eat.. So we stopped dead quiet to just listen. In the early morning  the bush is full of birds whistling and singing, and odd off stage noises such as an elephant crashing through undergrowth. But it was absolute silence after this shot had rang out with not a sound to be heard. Suddenly a couple of minutes later a second shot, and then the whole countryside erupted. There were elephant trumpeting in all directions, some far away, and some quite near and then right ahead we heard the noise of a herd stampeding. It was most unpleasant and quite terrifying as it was becoming louder and louder and it was now plain that the herd in a frenzy was heading straight for us. I ran to the left and there was a small anthill about 5 or 6 foot high, and there was another on the right to which Timothy and Mchacha ran to for cover. We were about 10 yards or so apart and the herd  broke straight between us. I held my rifle, only a .303  wondering what would happen next. The herd was made up of about 8 females, tuskless or with very small tusks. As they reached our spoor and scent they stopped between me and Timothy and milled around in a circle. At that moment old Timothy moved to get a better view of them. One caught his movement and swung round towards him, whilst another realised that danger was there, turned and  backtracked  not quite the way they had come  but about 40 degrees off and bashed through the bush off levelling a path as

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