The first snake turned out to be the one I fear the most while walking in the bush, a puffadder. This stocky and slow moving (although fast striking) snake species lies still, waiting for its prey. It is responsible for the most snakebites in southern Africa; the outcome is not always fatal, but loosing a limb is quite common... and I'm supposed to pick this thing up, using only a 1 m hooked stick!? To my surprise it doesn't readily bite though (if you're not stepping on it) and usually warn you of its presence by hissing and tries to slither away a short distance, rather than striking at you or the stick.
The next snake had been put in a pillow case on a sofa and once located, it took some wriggling to get it out. When correctly identified as a snouted cobra it was ok to take the goggles off and with my vision no longer blurred by plastic, the snake was easily put in a box. The next time I found a snake almost immediately in a large; the same species only larger and more aggressive! I was having trouble getting a good grip since I was afraid that pressing too hard would hurt it. Ignoring that, I managed to catch it, put it down on the floor (the grab stick firmly one third of its body length down from the head), grab the tail with my free hand and lift the rather heavy serpent into a container. Needless to say I was very proud of myself. 
Sean, who I was doing the course with, had a bit of bad luck since it unfortunately managed to escape into a corner of the room. We had to move the furniture a few times and all the movement and poking with the stick made the cobra irritated, spreading its hood, hissing and striking at him. Luckily reptiles tire fast and eventually the snake was safely locked away and Sean was happily shaking and sweating.After this ordeal we went out into the parking lot and this time the goggles stayed on. The spitting cobra we had to catch was not in the mood of being caught and we had to run fast to keep up with it. We had to run along side it and grab it while moving; the snake didn't like that one bit!
We did it twice each just to make sure we could and we both got spit at several times and had cobra venom all over. This small snake had no problem spitting us right in the face from ground level 2 m away. This snake can't be a reptile... they're supposed to tire easily! 
This tiny, non-venomous herald snake proved just how effective attitude is in deterring enemies. Grabbing it with your hands doesn't seem like a good idea, though it can't possibly harm you.During the lunch break we agreed to swop so that Sean would take the first round with each snake, to make it fair. But when a 3 m python was released and the instructor turned to us asking “Who's turn?”, Sean went pale and pointed in my direction; what a gentleman! This one was probably the most aggressive of all the snakes we encountered this day and all I was equipped with was a wet towel, held with a grab stick.
In theory I was going up to the snake and put the towel on the ground in front of it and once it moved onto the towel, fold the rest of the wet fabric over the head and grab it just behind the jaw bone with both hands and then get help lifting the animal, which by the way weigh almost as much as I do. Sounds easy enough, but this guy was fast and in a bad mood, it chased me around in circles a couple of times, striking at me. 
Sean was yet again shaking, this time with laughter, and so got his revenge. At the time I didn't see anything remotely amusing about being chased for 15 minutes (they are supposed to get tired!) by a beast big enough to eat me!After the python nothing could scare me anymore. Chasing and jumping onto a monitor lizard was a walk in the park.
This was also true for getting my favourite snake (the highly venomous boomslang) out of a tree with a grab stick, even though I was standing in a pit with three puffadders... 
But I knew that the worst was yet to come. I had no illusions of escaping this course without getting close to the most deadly of the African snakes, black mamba. 
Just watching it being placed in a tree made me feel weak and I was grateful that Sean had manned up and took the first round. Catching a venomous snake in a tree, you grab it with the grab stick and gently disentangle it from the branches, one at the time. In between you grab the tail with your free hand, before freeing it from the next branch. 
It felt so wrong holding on to a black mamba's tail, just half a meter away from its fatal end... But I now appreciate just how addictive adrenaline kicks can become. When only one more step remained before the mamba could be lifted down, the instructor took over. This is a fast moving snake with a bite that is 100% deadly if not immediately treated... so I appreciated it.Last was an assessment where you get a call from a “client” and make sure to get the necessary information and bring the equipment you may need. I took the two sticks, goggles, a torch, a round container and a first aid kit. The snake was in a shed full of stuff and the client was being annoying (all part of the game), wanting to get into the shed to help. Once I found a puffadder in a cooler bag I took the goggles off, caught it with the hooked stick and put it in the round container. Now I realized my mistake; the client had seen the snake further in and I guessed that there was one more, hiding in the dark. I got her out again and eventually found a small python that I caught with my hands and then claimed I could use the first aid bag could as a container. This was accepted with some smirks, but they of course handed me a real one and I was done!
I am no longer as afraid of puffadders as before, since I have seen up close how they behave and the same goes for mambas which don't seem as aggressive as I had imagined.
Pythons though, that's a different story!/A
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