After reading your description , I recalled some Books I had read by adventurers in South America. There was a snake called a jumping Tommygof , which would hide in trees and strike from the side as you went past , this is it:-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bothrops_asper I have also shot a Black Mamba with a .22 pistol that was in a tree where my Kids were playing (many years ago) Rinkals also very common where we lived on a smallholding ( spits in your eyes)