Let’s Talk About Snake Oil
What is snake oil and why the heck are we talking about it? That’s a great question. One that we had as well when our Village Manager mentioned it to us as a way to ward off snakes from our property. Yes, we have had some run-ins with snakes at Bolingo Village. Before you freak out, please know that everything is A-OK! No one has been hurt or confronted by a snake and we’ve been taking protective measures for over a year to keep it that way.
To start, we periodically clear the taller grass areas inside the village with a tractor. The species of snakes near us love tall grassland areas, so we simply make the inside of Bolingo a less inviting place for them to live. After all, they’re not paying rent! Next, we held an anti-venom training course at the village for our clinic and farm staff from the National Anti-Venom Center of DRC. Our team is now equipped with the tools and knowledge to treat a snake bite wound in the very unlikely event that this would ever happen. After that, our nurse, Marlene, gave a presentation to the kiddos and foster moms, where they discussed what to do if you see a snake. This primarily consists of moving away from the snake and calling for one of our female farmhands to take care of it. They’re the brave ones in our crew.
That brings us to the last protective measure we recently started taking; snake oil. Some of you may know about snake oil as it has been used in the alternative medicine world to treat inflammation, wounds, and certain infections due to its high content of omega-3 fatty acids and antimicrobial properties. Where do these powerful healing properties come from? Snake oil is literally made with the fat from a boa constrictor, boiled down into an oil (I suppose its name should’ve been a giveaway). What it’s less known for, at least in the western culture, is its potential to ward off other snakes.
In Africa, this is actually a widely known tactic to solve a snake problem. The first thing our farmer, Mayala, said when asked what we can do to make sure our snake friends stay away was, “I’ll go buy some snake oil”. The million-dollar question is, does it actually work? As this is an ancient African belief, there’s not much research surrounding it. The theory is that when other snakes smell the boa constrictor fat, they don’t want to come any closer. All we know is that our Congo staff reports zero snake sightings in the areas where we spread the oil. That’s good enough for us!