The Snake House

We were travelling around the countryside visiting some of the mobile clinic sites, spreading the word that we are increasing the surgical capacity of the area, when I noticed these piles of dirt, that reminded me of the large termite mounds seen in Africa. I asked my local driver if these were made from insects such as ants or termites, and he told me, no, they are where the snakes live. He called them snake houses. The larger ones will have a king cobra in them, or perhaps a couple. Smaller snake houses hold a family of vipers. I'm told that there are either one or the other, but they don't like to mix company. The cobra is considered a sacred snake, and I have seen a temple with a large cobra at the front. In fact I do have a picture of it, but unfortunately cannot upload it yet. Sri Lanka is a country with one of the largest number of snake bites in the world. Our emergency room averages about 2 snake bites per day. I am looking pretty carefully where I step.