Life is always exciting in Thika.  We thank God for the visitors that come to visit in the churches, but there are a few “visitors” that we would rather do without.  This lizard, and about 200 of his friends, live in and around our house, and are constantly running to and fro under the car, up the wall, across the roof, inside our porch, and recently even in the laundry room.  They grow up to 18 inches long, and the males have orange heads.  They are actually quite ‘beautiful’ in an ugly way.

Then, about three weeks ago, I met this guest on the sidewalk near the front door.  We do have a number of snakes here, and although many Kenyans believe (just like you do) that all snakes are bad, and the only good one is a dead one, I am not so alarmed by them.  BUT, this one met his end right after I took his picture—it is a baby spitting cobra.  These little guys are not so common and they are not very nice. They can the kill the dogs when they get a little bigger.  We have been watching to see if the mother is around, but have not seen her yet.  We have had snakes in the house, but this one, being poisonous, was plenty close enough.

Doug Stamper, Kenya