I have mentioned previously the pleasure of living in an estate which adjoins a nature area, which I can access by walking a couple of hundred metres from our front door and which has an abundance of fynbos and other flora, plus enough birdlife to keep me going back several times a week.

Until last Friday I could not think of a downside to having a nature area on our doorstep, but just as we can visit the nature area with ease, so can inhabitants of the nature area just as easily visit us by heading in the opposite direction, if they are in the mood for a bit of adventure.

That last fact was brought home loud and clear by a Puff-adder that decided to come to our front door during the afternoon. Fortuitously, our son is visiting us and was in the guest bedroom close to the front entrance – he noticed that the estate’s security personnel were standing in the street looking at our house. Then he realised why – a 1m long Puff-adder was slithering across our driveway towards the front entrance!

It turns out the security people had been keeping track of the snake after it was spotted in a garden three houses down and had called the Mossel Bay Fire Brigade who have a small team that deal with such events.

We joined the security people on the driveway – via our back door of course – and watched and waited for the snake catchers to arrive. We couldn’t help thinking what might have happened if we did not get the warning and went out by our front door!

They were there within 15 minutes (Mossel Bay is fortunate to have a very well run municipality) and had the Puff-adder in a container within minutes, ready for relocation to a spot away from suburbia.