Prudence Bushnell is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Kenya from 1996 to 1999 and as the United States Ambassador to Guatemala from 1999 to 2002. Earlier on, she had served as Deputy Chief of Mission under Ambassador George Moose at the U.S. Embassy in Dakar, Senegal and later as Deputy Assistant Secretary.
Bushnell was the Ambassador in Kenya when a car bomb was detonated next to the embassy by al-Qaeda agents on August 7, 1998.
She was knocked unconscious by the blast and badly cut by flying glass. When she regained consciousness a few minutes later, Bushnell was taken to a nearby hotel for medical treatment and started overseeing rescue efforts. In total, 12 embassy staff members and 212 Kenyans died, and 4,000 people were injured.
In her memoir Terrorism, Betrayal, and Resilience: My Story of the 1998 U.S. Embassy Bombings, Bushnell recounts what was probably her most horrific experience, however brief, since coming to Kenya. This happened when she visited the research station of Shirley Strum, who had been studying a troop of baboons for years.
She was flown to the station by Jonah Western, a former director of the Kenya Wildlife Service, in his bush plane. Later in the evening she decided to visit the outdoor loo, which was a short distance away. The night was very dark. She carried a flashlight, and as she walked, she heard what sounded like the hiss of a cat.
Turning on the light, she found “a large, menacing snake rising up on its haunches — or whatever — to get a good frontal look at me.”
Being a diplomat, she wrote that she was not “sure of the protocol.” The State Department apparently has no manual for a diplomatic encounter with dangerous snakes! Left to her own devices, she backed up slowly and quietly until she could safely and loudly announce to the household that there was a snake in the middle of the path to the privy.
Jonah at first doubted her, but later found the snake and identified it as a puff adder.
The puff adder is a highly venomous viper species found in savannahs and grasslands throughout Africa except for the Sahara and rainforest regions. It is responsible for most snakebite fatalities in Africa.
Typical size: about 1.0 m (39.3 in) and very stout.
When disturbed, they hiss loudly and continuously while adopting a tightly coiled defensive posture with the forepart of their body in a taut “S” shape. They may back away, or they may strike.
During a strike, the impact is so strong, and the fangs so long, that prey are often killed by trauma alone. The fangs can even penetrate soft leather.
Depending on distance, an adult puff adder can strike about one-third of its body length. Juveniles may launch their entire body forward. Venom yield is typically 150–350 mg, with a maximum of 750 mg. About 100 mg is enough to kill a healthy adult human, with death occurring after about 25 hours.
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