Chris Prior: “I Love the Western Cape… But It Should Be Called The Wild West”

I love the Western Cape – but it should really be called ‘The Wild West’… writes Rock DJ CHRIS PRIOR.

In Joburg, the worst creature I had to deal with was the big orange ‘Parktown Prawn’ – otherwise known as a mole cricket. I would hear a shriek, and rush indoors to find my wife sitting on the dining room table, clutching her poodle and demanding that I remove the creepy-crawly immediately.

Here in Greyton, I’ve come across two large crickets which are just as scary: a black/green/yellow striped horror called a Milkweed Locust, whose young move around in an obscene lump of a hundred or so… and a black/red monster called a Koppie Foam Grasshopper, which exudes a potent heart poison if molested.

Aside from these, we’ve come across a six-foot Cape cobra at the bottom of our garden, another, younger cobra actually in our house, and, the other day, my cat Clawdie pointed out to me a boomslang gliding through my hedge – and when I say I watched this thing carry on sliding past me for about 20 seconds, I’m not exaggerating.

Finally, yesterday, the birds alerted me to another large boomslang trying to get at their nests in a tree in my front yard. Noodles managed to get a pic of it, which I share with you in the hope that you’re not snakeaphobic or whatever it’s called….

Add a drought, and terrifying wild fires sweeping through the fynbos every now and then, and you’ve got the makings of a Stephen King horror movie…

Funnily enough, I still wouldn’t change it for anything…

You can find Chris Prior’s podcasts here: krips48.podomatic.com