NARCISSE SNAKE DENS, Man. _ The snakes _ dozens, perhaps even hundreds _ resembled a giant undulating blob of spaghetti as they twisted and rolled in their apparent attempt to scale the side of the rocky pit.
Like Medusa _ the snake-haired goddess of Greek mythology _ brushing her reptilian locks, the mass of red-sided garter snakes would slither a foot or two up the side of the pit before sliding back to the bottom.
Over and over they did this, producing a sound similar to white noise as they twisted and slithered at the bottom of the pit.
By any definition, this was a spectacle.
A spectacle of snakes.
For a few short weeks every spring, red-sided garter snakes _ in all their slithering glory _ are the star attractions in a show of nature that draws tourists by the thousands to this wildlife management area in Manitoba's Interlake Region about an hour north of Winnipeg.
From across the world they come. To see garter snakes.
During the springtime peak, it's not uncommon for hundreds of smaller male snakes to envelope the larger females, gathering in large, undulating masses, in their efforts to propagate.
"It's the only place in the world where you can see red-sided garter snakes in this density _ or maybe any snake," said Pauline Bloom, Central Region wildlife manager for Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship in Gimli, Man. "We get calls every day from people all over the place, all over the world. They're wanting to come, and they want to time it perfectly so they can see the most snakes at any one time."
