Serpent's Return

A while ago, we shared with you our first encounter with our unexpected visitor - a large Boomslang (Click here for the post). It didn't take her very long to show her face again! We had just finished watering and I sat down to have my coffee when a little bit of movement pulled my attention upward - and there she was once again!

This time, the camera was close by and I managed to get a shot of her as she was  exiting into the neighbours yard like before. The above-shown photo shows her lower-half - from her middle to her tail. It was still quite a sight seeing her fully extended across the arch, moments before this photo. Easily 1,3 meters in length.
We decided to name her, seeing as it was now clear she enjoyed visiting our garden from time to time. The name that stuck is Nyoka, which literally just means 'snake' in isiXhosa (one of South Africa's 11 official languages).

Our Melon Patch & Unexpected Visitor

It was an early morning when I decided to carry on with fining the clay ground between our proud bouganvilla & bamboo. My dog was patiently sitting beside me watching the activities of the early morning. It was then I heard a rustle in the bamboo behind me. I thought nothing of it at first as our kitty spends most of her time in the garden. It was upon a second rustle that my very brave, yet confused dog, Trekker, jumped up and looked at me as if calling me with his eyes.
I knew not to take his reaction lightly as it was peculiar behavior. I dropped the spade and peeked around the corner only to discover - eeeeeeeeeek!! - a Boomslang! (Tree-snake - directly translated). 

A Boomslang -
image from http://www.africanreptiles-venom.co.za/boomslang.html

It was slithering away from the bamboo where I stood, had a peek into my sister's bedroom and shot high up into the next patch of bamboo. I must have frightened it with the shoveling. She was a beautiful, fully-grown femail of about 1,2 to 1,3 meters long - better check for eggs!
She did not hang around too long, but long enough for everyone to see her greatness. She cut her visit short by sailing of into the neighbour's yard. What an experience!

Despite the goosebumps that I had for the entire day, we all chipped in and finished our watermelon patch, knowing that the spirit of the snake watches over them. Our watermelons received lots of compost as the ground had many stones which had to be removed. We found some rich top soil beneath some trees further down in our 'jungle', which we also used. The patch was decorated with a big log and bamboo sticks and of course our beautiful tree bark!