In addition to boasting of a population of friendly welcoming people, Olbalbal can boast, if boasting is in order, of a serious snake population.

We have a lot of snakes around here and they even get into the house. My latest attack method is a liberal application“dirty oil” around the outside of the house. By “Dirty Oil” I mean the oil that is drained from crank cases during an oil change. The garage in the city of Arusha

some six hours from Olbalbal where I have my Toyota Land Cruiser serviced every 3,000 miles has given me a couple of gallons of the stuff and I can get more from them in the future. It seems to be working. The Black Mamba that got into the house last year was a serious wake up call, to say nothing of the Puff Adder that got into the house a few months before.

The snakes are searching for food in the form of mice. We keep that population at a minimum with frequent applications of poison, but it is impossible to eliminate the mice completely.