3 days later, the Tortuga rests in the Kalahari region.

In the HQ room, everyone was relaxing and doing their own thing. Koki was reading on her tablet with her feet resting on the table. Aviva was on the table reading a book, and Chris was sorting out his Power Discs, and had them arrange by color as his sorted them out. And Jimmy was napping in his chair.

Martin was outside with Amber, they do sometimes let her wandering around the Tortuga, as long as someone was keeping an eye on her. As Amber is sometimes a mischief, as yesterday she got into Jimmy's hidden stack of pizza.

At the moment, they're exploring a number of burrows 30 yards from the Tortuga. It was a burrow and tunnel system that was dug by Meerkats.

By this one looks to be abandoned now.

"Hmm. Kinda hope some Meerkats would be here." Martin said.

Amber sniffs around some of the burrows, and near one of them as a faint scent caught her attention. So sensitive in the sense of smell in dinosaurs, that she can make out how long the scent has been there.

Amber then looks through the burrow as she curiously started inching into the burrow trying to see what could be inside.

Her body was halfway in the burrow as Amber then saw a shape inside, it then looked familiar to her as it had scales with a yellow color. Then suddenly the object stirred, and then a head was seen with a flicking forked-tongue as then a loud hiss was heard.

Amber then leaps back with a surprise expression and growled. As this encounter is leading to a shock for her.

And Martin soon noticed her, and saw she looked surprised.

"What are you up too?" Martin asked and joins next to her.

Then suddenly, a 3 foot yellow cobra shot of of the burrow and rose up with it's hood out.

"Whoa, a Cape Cobra!" Martin exclaimed.

Cape Cobras are common in southern Africa, and come in different colors from the region, from yellow in deserts, golden brown, to even black. And is one of Africa's deadliest snakes. And is one of many species of cobra in Africa.

The Cape Cobra is also known as the "geelslang" meaning yellow snake. And "bruinkapel" meaning brown cobra in South Africa. The Afrikaans speaking South Africans also refer to the Cape Cobra as "koperkapel" meaning copper cobra for a rich yellow coloration.

This cobra is proving to be not too pleased of being disturbed by a nosy dinosaur poking around his burrow. And he stood a foot high with his hood spread out.

Martin took a few steps back, but Amber's attention was still on the cobra as she looked naive, and curious as well. Amber circled the cobra as he carefully watched her.

"Chris, get out here." Martin called Chris on his Creaturepod. "Amber's having a tussle with a Cape Cobra."

"What?!"

The cobra hissed loudly as warning for Amber not to get too close, and then made a mock lunge at her as she leaps back. And confronting a cobra is like playing with fire.

The Cape Cobra is armed with fangs and a lethal neurotoxic venom that attacks the nervous system of a victim. If Amber was bitten, the venom would shut down her breathing, and even her heart.

A single bite can kill 6 people.

Soon, Chris and Aviva appeared.

"Whoa!" Aviva exclaimed.

"A Cape Cobra!" Chris said. "That's a serious snake."

The cobra continues hissing as Amber looked she was processing the snake. And then the cobra lunges again as Amber quickly dodges him.

"Whoa, a near miss!" Martin said.

Soon, Amber started to back away from the cobra as she was now seeing the cobra as something not to mess with like with rattlesnakes. And she joins back with Martin.

"Guess she had enough." Martin said.

"At least we'll know she'll be careful around cobras." Chris said.

"I love cobras." Aviva said. "They happen to be my favorite kind of snake."

"Yeah, and the hood is a clear warning." Martin said as the cobra watches them with his hood out. "Almost as if he's saying, "I'm scared. I don't wanna you, but if given the choice I will"."

"You know, you can actually touch a cobra behind it's head." Chris said.

"Really? How does that work?" Aviva said.

"You start by grabbing the snake's attention." Chris explained. "Watch."

Chris then brought out his right hand, and waves it as the cobra watched it and then lunges as Chris pulled it back and brought his left hand behind the cobra's head. And then very gently he touches the snake's head and stroked it a bit.

"Wow." Aviva said.

"Yeah, as long as you keep his attention on your other hand, there's no trouble." Chris said.

He then slowly brought his left hand back as the cobra hissed.

"Okay, now I've got to try that." Aviva said.

She soon got the cobra's attention, and manages to get her right hand over the cobra's head. And then gently touches his head, and after a few moments she soon pulls away.

Then they decided to leave the snake alone, and they took a few steps back. And the Cape Cobra watches them for a few moments, and then lowers his hood and got down. And soon the cobra begins to slither back down into his burrow.

"That was a cool snake." Martin said.

"Maybe we should check out cobras sometime." Chris said.

"Okay, so, Amber has learnt to avoid rattlesnakes, Cottonmouths and now cobras." Aviva said. "She really is becoming a fast learner. I wonder what's next."

"Just have to wait and see." Martin said stroking Amber's head.

"So many amazing animals in Africa that we should see." Chris said.

Young Amber still has a lot to learn.

Author's Note:

I think cobras might be one of my favorite snake groups. I think the King Cobra is my favorite. And Season 5 episode, The Cobra King was definitely my favorite in the season, along with Temple of Tigers, Elephant Brains!, Choose your Swordfish, and Komodo Dragon.

When I first saw The Cobra King, I didn't expect that cobras were Aviva's favorite snakes.

1 last thing, for those who are fans of T. Rex, please be sure to check out my most recent story, Walking with Dinosaurs: The Story of Sue. Which is in honor of her 30th anniversary of her discovery.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Hurricane Isaias passed over where I lived by 3 A.M. while was sleeping. And there was no damage, and the recent 5.1 earthquake that happened in Mount Airy was a total surprise. I just woke up when I thought my dog was in my room which was actually the bed rattled from the vibrations.