Warning This post  deals with shark attack, snakes and tuktuks. If you are not happy about any of these subjects please stop reading now. Also it is a little longer than the usual post.

AGAINST ALL THE ODDS TWICE

Before setting off on our travels anywhere, I’ll often look for the lists of poisonous snakes or whether crocodiles frequent the local lagoons, what fatal tropical diseases might infect us and which kind of spiders might be lurking under the bed. It’s not that I’m truly concerned by them but more that they fascinate me as we don’t have to deal with them back home in Britain.

The fact of the matter is that these  creatures are usually difficult to find or see, even if you are specifically looking for them. To be bitten or attacked by one is far from likely. On the other hand the severity of the consequences of an attack could be nasty to fatal. If we assess this risk logically rather than emotionally we find all of the above to be low to medium risks at worst.

Sri Lanka has one of the highest death rates per capita due to snake bite in the world. On our travels we’ve seen the grand total of only 5 snakes. The only venomous one couldn’t get away from us fast enough, much to my disappointment. I only managed a blurry photo of a 2m long cobra.

The traffic overseas offers far higher risks when just crossing the road or taking a ride in a bus or a tuk-tuk for that matter.

It’s quite likely that you may be involved in a road traffic accident whilst travelling. The severity of these accidents can obviously be high to fatal. Making these risks medium to high

Road traffic interactions are so common place however that we often don’t give them a second thought.

Two nasty situations have occurred so far during our stay here in Sri Lanka that most certainly could have resulted in serious injury or death. Both as it happens passed without injury. The odd thing is that one incident plays heavily on my mind whilst the other has  faded away quickly.

The first and least memorable of the two was when our  tuktuk driver crashed head on with a motor bike. How no one was hurt I have no idea. Did I even think twice before getting into the next tuktuk? No did I heck. The chances of it happening again are not unlikely given the crazed driving habits of Sri Lankan tuktuk drivers.

Second of the two was a little more harrowing. I had a brief but significant interaction with a large fish…

I was riding my foilboard or kite hydrofoil  out in the sea next to Kappalady lagoon. Whilst attempting a foil tack I fell from my board.  Several seconds later whilst about to bodydrag I received a heavy blow to my thigh from beneath. The force of which left me shocked and confused for a short time.  This confusion was ended when a 2m long shark breached right next to me.  At the realisation of what was happening to me, that ever useful and delicious neurotransmitter adrenalin kicked in hard. My board was several meters away which I needed back on my feet pronto. The few metres bodydragging to my foilboard felt like an eternity spent as a giant fishing lure expecting another attack at any moment. More or less safely back on my board the fear induced adrenalin was still at its peak as a result I have never returned to shore so fast, with such purpose or with such jelly legs. The guys on the beach listened to my story with looks of disbelief however they could also see that I was pretty agitated.  Fortunately the impact left me with only a bruised thigh, two holes in my shorts and a revised sense of my mortality.

I’d researched, spiders, snakes, leopards, bears, dengue and malaria but I forgot all about the sharks. Apparently there are 60 known species that are found around Sri Lanka – Attacks happen but are uncommon.

So the improbable happened to me twice in the same incident. A direct full speed strike from a shark and not a drop of blood spilled. Perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket.

The probability that I will be attacked by a shark again is extremely remote even though I play with my hydrofoil in the sharks environment frequently. So why does this incident burn into the psyche so much more than the tuktuk accident?

Is it because it reminds us that we are not truly the number one we so often think that we are? .

Is it familiarity?  We are so accustomed to road traffic we just accept it. Where as our interactions with snakes, sharks etc. are so infrequent that their risks rings greater alarm bells in our imagination.

Or is it that these animals are mostly unseen lurking in the depths or the long grass? Their strikes being unpredictable and their presence being left to the imagination.

Maybe they trigger a primal fear in us that lingers from when we were once listed on the menu.

One thing that is for certain is that we are terrible at assessing risk in our everyday lives.

Another certainty is that I will not forget the image of the shark as it pierced the water alongside me and leapt into the air as I floated in the indian ocean attached to a kite.  As an ocean lover and kitesurfer this leaves me in a bit of a quandary.

Logic or emotion?

Right bed time for me as it’s windy and hopefully I’ll be out on the ocean again tomorrow.

The outcome

This happened a couple of weeks ago but I resisted posting until I’d had time to reflect on the shark incident.

I kited the very next day but in the lagoon not the sea.

I kited in the sea  one week ago without a second thought however in a different place and with a twintip board.

I went to kite the sea on the hydrofoil at the same place as the attack happened and emotion was hard to overcome. My legs were like jelly for the first five minutes and my usual falls were considerably more exciting than normal.

I did however face the fear and got to ride some lovely waves with the foilboard for the first time ever.