We had a lovely restful peaceful vacation in Mombassa last week. The absolute great thing about Africa is that it never seems to stop throwing curveballs at you. Near the place where we stayed was a small reptile zoo, so we stopped in.

The first surprise was that we were the only people there. The guy at the front told me the price he wanted me to pay, which was much more than I had expected, and more than the posted sign. I said no, and so he changed the price. I wondered what that would do for Disneyland to negotiate your price when you entered.

The guy that took our money also gave us a tour. The first stop was the place where they had several crocodiles. I’ve been to the zoo so many times, and I’ve never seen a crock do anything. But I was now in an African zoo, and so the first surprise started.

Animals in zoos in America are treated with a great deal of love an d respect. It’s a little different here. The guy grabbed a long stick and whacked the crock on the head. He did it again, and the crock hissed like you might expect a dragon to hiss if there were dragons. Then he hit him on the back so the crock would swirl around.

He then told us to come to the python pit. He then jumped IN the pit. He grabbed a 9-foot python by the head and pulled it over his head. He then appeared to stroke the python on the head, which caused the python to open his mouth is a way that made me jump high in the air, even while I was holding Katie.

The next few exhibits were behind glass. There were many signs explaining how poisonous the snakes were, and how rapidly we would die if we were bitten. But at least two of the cages had deep cuts in the glass. For that matter, Bill Blocki and I built a fort when we were in 5th grade, and put in one piece of glass, and I promise you, our glass looked more professional than cages holding very deadly snakes.

After we left, we sought the refuge of the ocean. Because we are residents and therefore qualified for a big discount, we were able to give JT an early Christmas present: he would get certified to scuba dive. It began auspiously for him: a snake fell from the ceiling and crawled angrily out of the room during his first class.

After the first dive in a pool, they had to have four dives in the ocean. On the first dive, he was a foot away from a twenty foot whale shark. They are as harmless as 20foot things can be, but it was fantastic to see something like that on your first dive.

They warned him that not every dive would have sights so astonishing. So, on the second dive, after seeing dozens of different fish, including several sea turtles that were huge, they were 2 feet away from a 24-foot whale shark. My children have seen some of the roughest things on earth; people going without food, children whose parents died of aids, and all the strange medical problems that seem to afflict people here.

I’m so glad that they get to see some other sights also.

Your pal

Steve Peifer