Jameson’s mamba snake by Mattias Klum , Cameroon National Geographic Ancient clay beaker with snake motif ca. 4000 BCE; excavated at Susa, Mesopotamia. Louvre Snakebite in the garden Like many people, I have found the snake to be a mysterious, exotic and unnerving creature to witness. My first serpent encounter was at the age of 7 when I leapt into a sandy pit, only to leap straight out again as a snake was using it for sun baking. A few years later at a mountain retreat I jumped off a stone embankment landing next