I have had hatbands made from snakes that I have dispatched and skinned including a couple of rattlesnakes and a puff adder. I have encountered a King Cobra somewhere in Asia and some kind of spitting cobra in Africa, but the only truly frightening snake I have encountered was the Black Mamba. He was approximately ten feet long and went past my PH and myself so quickly that it was almost unbelievable. I had read that mambas were fast but I have never seen anything like that. It would have taken a long time to get to a medical facility if one of us had been bitten, maybe too long.

Rattlesnakes usually don't bother me much. I am glad that I did not brush up against that sage before he had the chance to warn me to go away.