The United Nations campus in Nairobi \u2013 home to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) \u2013 was lush with colourful fauna and flora. The trees were alive with monkeys, which I heard had a knack for finding open windows and plundering the kitchens within.<\/p>\n
What a fun place to work, I thought, as I began familiarising myself with the grounds, a charming medley of tropical trees, exotic screeches and beige concrete blocks that reminded me of my old secondary school.<\/p>\n
I was attending the UN Environment Assembly, UNEP\u2019s major biennial gathering where member states come together to discuss how best to manage our natural world. I was there to support an event raising awareness of environmental crime alongside a busy schedule of meetings.<\/p>\n
This was my first time in sub-Saharan Africa and I was soon to learn that in Nairobi, monkeys aren\u2019t the only wildlife one might encounter during the day job.<\/p>\n
I had a video to edit and needed to find a space to work, away from the hubbub of the conference. Locating a ground-floor meeting room that seemed available, despite the door being open and the AV still on, I set up my laptop and headphones, and got to work.<\/p>\n
A while later, locked away in my little world and quite oblivious to what was going on around me, I felt a tap on my shoulder. A security guard.<\/p>\n
\u201cExcuse me, sir,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m afraid you have to leave.\u201d They probably needed the room for a meeting, I thought.<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cThere is a snake.\u201d Then I spotted it.<\/p>\n
Winding lazily across the table towards me was a beautiful, bright green snake, perhaps a metre in length. Its vivid shade of green mellowed at the belly and darkened at its long, whip-like tail.<\/p>\n
It was just half a metre away but, if it hadn\u2019t been for the guard, I don\u2019t think I\u2019d have known about it until it slithered right onto my keyboard. At first, I was alarmed and sprang up from the desk.<\/p>\n
But then the snake paused, at which point \u2013 and keeping a safe distance \u2013 I became rather engrossed in my new reptilian colleague.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind of snake is it?\u201d, I asked over the somewhat excitable radio chatter.<\/p>\n
\u201cA green mamba,\u201d the guard replied. \u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d he added, detecting some trepidation. \u201cIt\u2019s not dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
By this time, a second guard had arrived and a small crowd had gathered in the doorway. They seemed slightly amused.<\/p>\n
Perhaps sensing a bit of unwanted attention, the snake slithered serenely down through the chairs beneath the tables, and made its way to the corner of the room. I noticed that the guards kept their distance.<\/p>\n