– ODO- 21917-22023km
– Location- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
– Weather- 31-37 storms in the afternoon
Often along the side of the road, I encounter a randomised survey of local wildlife in differing states of compression. Often in Europe and Central Asia, it’s a long string of flattened rats and mice and the occasional cat or dog. But in Malaysia, there’s a huge range in reptile life. Three food lizards. Great snakes in all colours and patterns.
Yesterday I had a real shock. I was heading down a highway and considerable speed on the hard shoulder when out of the grass cave a small mouse or vole only a few meters ahead. The amount of time before I reached it was to be less than a second at my current speed so as I watched in shock a bright green snake, thin but around two feet long shot out in pursuit. I shouted an obscenity, failed to lift my legs up before I hit it because of my clip-in pedals and all in an instant, felt the bump-bump of running over the snake which was the thickness of a garden hose and the green flashed below me.
I looked back to see the snake retreating shocked into the grass and the furry mammal making good it’s escaping across the road. I vowed to stay a little clear of the grassy verge from now on.