© Libyan Soup
King Cobra. Snakes on a Plain. Pagan (Bagan), Burma.
Burma has the highest death rate from snakebites in the world.
It is 'reported' around a 1,000 people a year are killed by Russell's Vipers in Burma, These Russell's vipers account for approximately 70% of the snakebite deaths in Burma. These are just the 'reported' figures - the overall death toll is reckoned to be far higher.
There are known to be at least 36 other deadly snakes species in Burma. The most highly infested areas are the Dry Zone (snakes live in many of Pagan’s (Bagan's) ruined temples).
Joe Slowinski, a herpetologist from the USA , who's primary area of research was venomous snakes had been conducting a comprehensive survey of the herpetofauna of Burma over ten expeditions between 1997 & 2001. Whilst on a field trip in Burma at around 7 a.m. on September 11, 2001 he was bitten by a multi-banded Krait, just over 29 hours later he was dead at the age of 38.
So whilst the world was watching the events of 9/11 unfold this was happening in a remote site in northern Burma. His colleague Mark Moffett described what happened.
“I was standing beside him when he casually picked up a pencil thin, foot-long snake -- which he did believing it was a nontoxic mimic Lycodon, an assumption based on the fact that the snake had reportedly already bitten the Burmese assistant who caught it the day before. Joe immediately recognized his mistake, but could detect no abrasions on his finger. He sat down to breakfast, lay down for a nap by 7:30, noticed a tingling in his muscles by 8 am. At 8:15, two assistants were sent to run to the nearest town with a radio, 8 miles distant. Joe calmly outlined what might happen to him and what we should do. Through the morning his voice was reduced to a slur, and in time he could only write us messages. By 1:00-1:30 he could no longer breath on his own, and we began mouth-to-mouth procedures. These stretched on continuously for nearly 26 sandfly-infested hours. At 3 pm our runners returned to us with a request from the military for updated information before a helicopter could be sent. Fresh runners were sent back, again urgently requesting a helicopter. By evening the weather turned too bad for a rescue flight, and the rains continued through the next day. By 4 am Joe could no longer signal us with his big toe. By 12:25 pm Joe's heart had stopped and we began 3 hours of CPR in anticipation of a rescue helicopter that never was able to land.
Official time of death is 12:25 pm on the 12th. Airlift was only possible the following afternoon.
Read the full account here.
I never really wanted to think much about the dangers until........
On our second trip to Burma, in Pagan (Bagan), my wife encountered a large (2m / 6' 6") browny green snake in the grounds of Sinmyarshin (Bagan Monument Number 1478).
Inadvertently she got rather close to it, but thankfully the snake was not interested in her and slithered off. She got this hurried and blurry shot of it as it disappeared over the perimeter wall.
After that we both became a little more edgy about snakes.
I thought the location of our snake sighting was appropriate for an evil serpent, because General Than Shwe was the donor who had paid for the restoration of Sinmyarshin following the earthquake damage of 1975 and that he continues to pay homage at Sinmyarshin whenever he visits Bagan.
Later on we met the keymaster of Sinmyarshin and he said there were many snakes. He then offered to open up the locked stair gate and we were soon rewarded with another wonderful panorama from the roof and soothed our nerves atop this rarely accessible temple.
Relating the story to locals they weren't surprised by the snake, but they were surprised that we had been granted access to the roof of Sinmyarshin, even for a little tea money.
© All Rights Reserved
This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.
Sinmyarshin (Bagan Monument Number 1478)
Pagan, Burma
(Bagan, Myanmar)
CC10 027
King Cobra. Snakes on a Plain. Pagan (Bagan), Burma.
Burma has the highest death rate from snakebites in the world.
It is 'reported' around a 1,000 people a year are killed by Russell's Vipers in Burma, These Russell's vipers account for approximately 70% of the snakebite deaths in Burma. These are just the 'reported' figures - the overall death toll is reckoned to be far higher.
There are known to be at least 36 other deadly snakes species in Burma. The most highly infested areas are the Dry Zone (snakes live in many of Pagan’s (Bagan's) ruined temples).
Joe Slowinski, a herpetologist from the USA , who's primary area of research was venomous snakes had been conducting a comprehensive survey of the herpetofauna of Burma over ten expeditions between 1997 & 2001. Whilst on a field trip in Burma at around 7 a.m. on September 11, 2001 he was bitten by a multi-banded Krait, just over 29 hours later he was dead at the age of 38.
So whilst the world was watching the events of 9/11 unfold this was happening in a remote site in northern Burma. His colleague Mark Moffett described what happened.
“I was standing beside him when he casually picked up a pencil thin, foot-long snake -- which he did believing it was a nontoxic mimic Lycodon, an assumption based on the fact that the snake had reportedly already bitten the Burmese assistant who caught it the day before. Joe immediately recognized his mistake, but could detect no abrasions on his finger. He sat down to breakfast, lay down for a nap by 7:30, noticed a tingling in his muscles by 8 am. At 8:15, two assistants were sent to run to the nearest town with a radio, 8 miles distant. Joe calmly outlined what might happen to him and what we should do. Through the morning his voice was reduced to a slur, and in time he could only write us messages. By 1:00-1:30 he could no longer breath on his own, and we began mouth-to-mouth procedures. These stretched on continuously for nearly 26 sandfly-infested hours. At 3 pm our runners returned to us with a request from the military for updated information before a helicopter could be sent. Fresh runners were sent back, again urgently requesting a helicopter. By evening the weather turned too bad for a rescue flight, and the rains continued through the next day. By 4 am Joe could no longer signal us with his big toe. By 12:25 pm Joe's heart had stopped and we began 3 hours of CPR in anticipation of a rescue helicopter that never was able to land.
Official time of death is 12:25 pm on the 12th. Airlift was only possible the following afternoon.
Read the full account here.
I never really wanted to think much about the dangers until........
On our second trip to Burma, in Pagan (Bagan), my wife encountered a large (2m / 6' 6") browny green snake in the grounds of Sinmyarshin (Bagan Monument Number 1478).
Inadvertently she got rather close to it, but thankfully the snake was not interested in her and slithered off. She got this hurried and blurry shot of it as it disappeared over the perimeter wall.
After that we both became a little more edgy about snakes.
I thought the location of our snake sighting was appropriate for an evil serpent, because General Than Shwe was the donor who had paid for the restoration of Sinmyarshin following the earthquake damage of 1975 and that he continues to pay homage at Sinmyarshin whenever he visits Bagan.
Later on we met the keymaster of Sinmyarshin and he said there were many snakes. He then offered to open up the locked stair gate and we were soon rewarded with another wonderful panorama from the roof and soothed our nerves atop this rarely accessible temple.
Relating the story to locals they weren't surprised by the snake, but they were surprised that we had been granted access to the roof of Sinmyarshin, even for a little tea money.
© All Rights Reserved
This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.
Sinmyarshin (Bagan Monument Number 1478)
Pagan, Burma
(Bagan, Myanmar)
CC10 027