I watch a great deal of the great hunting shows like Tracks across africa and such and see Ivan, Craig, and others running through the tall grass in chase of animals. You folks that have been to africa ever been amongst the snakes? Is that a huge concern? I mean, we have cotten mouths and such in Mississippi but they tell me there are some down there that will lay you out for good.

I've been around a few nasities over there, but only have one truly memorable encounter. We were lion hunting in northern Botswana, and had found a nicely maned lion that was with a female in heat. We'd stalked in a few times and each time, the lioness chased us off while her boyfriend snuck away. Several times, she mock charged, only to stop at 15-20 yards while we all had our guns up, ready to stop her if she truly meant business.

As you can imagine, things were a bit tense as we tracked the pair through grass that was more than knee high. As we came to a fork in the trail, my PH went to the left and I took the right fork, when all of a sudden he hissed to me and motioned to stop. As soon as he had my attention, he quietly said "BFS" I didn't know what BFS meant, so I moved closer and asked him what the hell as BFS was, to which he replied "BIG F*CKING SNAKE!" Apparently, he saw a snake that was over 12' long crawling toward the trail I was on, and he didn't want me getting near it. I only caught a glimpse of said beauty after he warned me, and I wasn't about to get close enough to identify it.

A few minutes later, as I was again following him on the tracks, one of our trackers jumped up but kept walking. My PH then did the same when he reached that point but he also jabbed his hand downward to point at some unseen danger. I swear to god, at that point I could have dunked a baskeball over Michael Jordan. When I came back down to earth, he simply turned and said "I was only pointing at that hole, so you wouldn't turn an ankle."

I'm not a fan of snakes, but they are a remote danger in almost all cases. Heck, most guys worry more about them over there than they do here at home, even though ours can jack you up very badly too. Here's a picture of a homegrown nasty that I recently took.

I don't like snakes.

It was 2001 and our safari started 9 days after the 9/11 attack. We made a conscious decision to carry-on on what was to be a 21 day dedicated Lion hunt for me and a Lion/Ele hunt for my partner in the Selous.

It was my eleventh safari and second in Tanzania, before I actually saw my first African snake and it was more than a casual sighting as he literally fell into my lap while the open Land Cruiser was driving through the tall grass. Grass stems had been landing in my lap all day. It was now about 3 p.m. and quite warm. I had been dozing when we hit a rut and I looked into my lap and noticed some grass stems which I casually brushed out of the vehicle. One green stem didn't go out, so I brushed it again, after which it looked me in the eye. He was green and as I swept him onto the floorboard and raised my legs onto the dash, I announced to all that there was a snake in the vehicle. As I watched the snake intently, the vehicle began to slow and I heard my PH say calmly "Mike, you must get out of the truck." (only later did I find out that he was already out and steering with his left arm as the truck rolled to a stop). All the boys, as I also found out later, had already bailed out as well.

Somehow I managed to exit the truck without lowering my legs from the dash. As I hit the ground I saw the snake disappear up behind the dashboard. He was now the sole occupant of the Land Cruiser. We decided that we had to remove the dash to try and force him out. As we carefully wielded the screwdrivers, 10 eyeballs watched for any sign of the snake. No luck. At this point, as we wondered what next, the game scout made a torch from the grass and when we had it on fire we waved it under the dash by the floorboards. In a matter of seconds the snake came out standing a foot above the dash to get some fresh air. Our intrepid game scout then whacked him with a stick, tossing him from the truck. We then re-installed the dash and continued hunting, but not before everyone had a chance to re-tell the story of the green snake who wanted the Land Cruiser from their own perspective. We had some good laughs about it afterward.

I haven't seen another African snake since, and that's just grand with me.

BTW, when a PH or tracker stops dead still in front of you without saying anything and not raising his binos, it's likely because he has spotted a snake. Just stand still yourself and wait. Most of the time he will turn around and walk back the way you've come until he can find a different route.

I have been to Africa on 5 hunts and have seen only one snake, a horned viper in Namibia. My children were with me on a trip to Zambia and saw a black Mamba with on of the trackers. That was it. On a typical spring weekend trip to my farm in N. Mississippi I would see a dozen or more cotton mouths and a copperhead or two. The difference is the level of toxicity. I never worried about snakes much in Africa.

Only four kinds of snakes I don't like; big ones, little ones, live ones, and dead ones.

In Tanzania happened upon a dead puff adder. PH thought cattle had stomped it. Came close enough to some version of a cobra in Namibia (it puffed up and spread it's hood....good enough for me!)

But it was in Australia where I had way too many encounters with 'King Browns' (or whatever they call them). The one in our shower really livened up the evening.

Be mindful and give them lots of room. Probably should be much more worried about a car wreck of some kind.

In 14 trips, I have seen very few snakes. Only 1 mamba and 1 puff adder. A few really small snakes.

I see more here in Florida.

I feel like I need to look under the bed now.

On my first Safari [all have been in Zim] I killed a 6ft+ boomslang with Speer shot shells in my 4" S&W 44 Mag.

On my second I killed a Black Mamba with my pocket knife, the PH pinned his head to the ground with the shooting sticks, and I grabbed it and cut off its head.

I stepped on 2 Cobras while chasing cape buff.
I was too tired to jump away from them, so I just ran over them.

At the new place I live, been here about a year I hve killed 3 near 6 foot snakes, my wife has killed one, and I have shot a bunch swimming in the pond with a shotgun.

We shoot smakes in camp at the deer lease all the time, Rattlers and Copperheads.

At the river we shoot water mocassins.

So smakes are most everywhere.

I do not worry about them much.

Personally I worry much more about my luggage getting to camp with me than I do snakes.

We see them on every hunt. Sometimes we see several on a 21 day hunt.

Actually, they are not a worry to me at all. In fact, we sometimes go looking for them, so we can photograph and video them.

Only ran across one Puff Adder in Tanzania. Never saw any in SA. To put things in perspective, I have killed three rattle snakes around the house in the past month. Then there was the rattler in the garage, another by the well, another one I ran over with the quad on the driveway. They are where you find them.

They are definately out there, and you should watch where you go, but not be unduly afraid. Walk behind your tracker and PH, and don't take off on your own path.

First trip to Namibia was 2004, it was cold and never saw one. I did kill a red hartebeest which had been bitten by a mamba, and was severly affected when we came up on it. My son and daughter-in-law went in 2005 and was considerably warmer. They saw one puff adder in the garden at the ranch. That got everyone's attention.

2007 leopard hunt was in April/May and was very warm - saw 2 puff adders, 3 black mambas, and stepped on a non-poisonous one they called a "whip snake". One of the mambas killed our Jack Russell when it got too close. All of the mambas were on termite mounds, so I am very leery of climbing them.

This year in Zim was very warm, but none of us saw any during the hunt or around camp. Big scorpion tho!

The week before last while hunting Suni in Natal we had been sitting in the bush calling and gave up and returned to the 2 track to continue walking and looking. We had only been walking a few minutes with John (Tracker), Mark (PH) and my self in a row. I heard a thud behind me and I turned to see what was happening and there on the 2 track about 5' behind me was a black mamba which had dropped from a tree. The snake just slithered in to the bush. It was the HIGH point of the day.

I've been to RSA three times and saw one Puff Adder, but that was while we were in a vehicle and he happened to cross the road in front of us. I've been to Zim four times and only saw one Rock Python and we had to go looking for him. A local farmer was afraid he would eat his goats, so we relocated him. That was a big snake.

This is quite topical for me at the moment.

You see, the other day I was attending a local hunting association meeting where the guest speaker was a top notch paramedic giving a full talk on first aid for the hunter. This is a recurring theme at such meetings and I've probably attended at least eight such talks over the recent years....

When it got to the question & answer part the arms shot up and predictably the most common questions were SNAKE-BITE related. I watched with some amusement and towards the end I put my hand up.

Question: Folks, how many people here (there were about 80 present) have had any experience or know personally of someone who has had a snake-bite incident on a hunt.

Answer: Not one hand went up!!!

Now this is a bunch of local, regular biltong hunters, mostly in the older age group. I would guess a collective 2000 years plus of hunting between us.

I pointed out that by far the biggest concern of any hunt must be vehicle accidents.
Thereafter, by my experience, heat exhaustion/sunstroke related issues.
Next are burns; Camp fires, cooking, boiling water from over heated "donkey" geysers etc.
Then if the wildlife comes into the equasion it will be insect/arachnid related bites & stings.
Falls, cuts, poisioning (C2H5OH ) make up a fair portion of the risks as well!

I discussed this issue with my good friend, Doc "Williebees" Barnard who parctices up in Ellisras, Limpopo province. He has treated a fair share of snake bite patients but cannot recall treating any from a hunting specific scenario, the nearest being the young son of Debbie & Mario, owners of Zimbi Books, who owned a game farm near Steenbokpan. He was bitten on the thumb by a Mozambique Spitting Cobra that had snuck into his bed. But this is essentially a "farm homestead" not "hunting" scenario. Could happen to any farming family.

In a nutshell, Willie agrees that nake-bite should not be of major concern to the typical hunter in Africa, but of course must be seen in context and snakes should simply be avoided.

BTW he demonstrated to me a simple device that is a "manual ventilator" that he believes is all that can be done by the layman in a snake-bite (and many other) situations until proper medical help is reached. Great inclusion in the first aid kit!

Every snake I've seen in the bush was either heading away (at great speed in the case of the Black Mambas) or were totally unaware of our presence. To my shame I have killed a few which I now know was wrong( I still kill Rinkals arround my own home because I have 4 kids aged between 2 and 9 and thats MY territory)

Relax in terms of the snake thing. Hope you get to see a rapidly dissappearing large black mamba on your next visit. It's quite spectacular Don't step on the puff adders. They don't like that If you get bit by a Boom Slang (Tree Snake) know that your imminent death is of a very rare sort
And remember, Malaria remains the biggest killer of all!

When my son and I hunted Namibia five years ago, we followed the usual plan. First, it's winter and snakes aren't around. Next, the tracker or PH will see it, so just stay behind them. Well, we were after Kudu when Zack jumped in the air mid step: "snake!". This little horned adder was lying in the path, perfectly camouflaged in the red dirt. The tracker and PH had walked past him, and Zack was about to plant a foot on him when he saw it and jumped. Helmke came back and picked up the little guy on a stick for pictures and then let him go. My dad's favorite email from the trip was Zack's descrption of almost stepping on the deadly snake.

Bob

The only snake I've seen in the flesh is a South African vine snake (very poisonous but back fanged and small mouthed). It was real up close and personal.

While on a kudu stalk we came across puff adder tracks which my PH said were probably the freshest you'd ever see without seeing the snake making them.

While baiting for leopard one of the trackers saw a black mamba and they had an Egyptian cobra repeatedly strike the hunting vehicle before moving off.

In Namibia in 2008 my son and I ran across a Zebra snake (barred spitting cobra) which the PH indicated was a bad one if it bit you. A Mamba crossed the road as we were driving back for brunch and my brother saw a very large Mamba while he and the PH were stalking a gemsbok. He said it rared up to look around and he said it looked 6 feet tall.

I was suprised by seeing this many snakes in 14 days during early June.

I think you are in fact among the snakes when in the bush. Last trip ran into a puff adder - no problems, everyone went their own way, quickly I might add. However, snakes are very real and dangerous.

I don't consider it a huge concern, but I take caution around the camp more so than in the bush. I think when hunting I am concentrating on game as opposed to snakes, but they are present.

Four trips, four snakes. Python and three puff adders. Really, snakes are not a big concern.

If you want to play a nasty trick, take a rubber snake with you and leave it in your partners tent.....

I was in Namibia in 2008 and saw one snake, the Zebra snake. Francois said it was a Cape (spitting) cobra.

Have done the realistic rubber snake thing and it's much fun. Our Namibian PH had one that we put in the silverware drawer that my wife opened. She got a bad case of 'happy feet' That rubber snake ended up between the sheets of one our pals beds. We had to out-drink him for some time to finally get him to retire first. He obviously hit the head, brushed his teeth, turned off the lights, and got into bed. About 15 seconds later the lights in his room came on, the door opened up and he stepped out in his skivvies, throwing the rubber snake into the pool with a terse 'very funny!' (which it was). We all fell about and laughed then went to bed ourselves.

But for the rest of the trip we all opened everything very carefully and always checked our beds by pulling the sheets down with the lights on. And all anybody had to do to make somebody 'levitate' in the back of the hunting vehicle was reach up and pinch the back of somebody's calf.

A little off topic, but I just picked up a rubber snake yesterday for this years deer camp. Now all I got to do is find an old shed antler or something else of interest, get a couple feet of monofilament and be sure the camcorder is handy.

I guess if you are unlucky enough to get bitten by a really bad one, you're pretty much in deep do dah.

Ran into Mamba's every day for 18 days in Tanz. Left my cabin light on one evening while eating dinner and the good fellow taking my wash to the cabin saw the 6 foot spitting cobra eating bugs drawn to the light. His shout brought the PH and two 400 grainers later from his rifle I was measuring him.

Tracker in front would always pause and give a jump every morning on the way to the lion blinds. PH would follow suit and I would just stand still as I was more concerned with the lioness that always pursued us than the snakes. I called it the "Mamba Shuffle."On the last morning walk the tracker jumped and I stood still and looked around for it and noticed a puff adder 3-4 inches from my right ankle. I spirited away rather smartly. I guess I was too pumped up on the hunt (or just stupid) to care.

Dutch

Steve please post those videos!

If you're gonna be too close to one, hope it is one of these.



Only a seven footer, but had an attitude!

We had a close encounter with a big black Mamba on my last Safari and there was some Puff Adders killed in camp during the season. but in general I havent seen all that many considering the days spent there.
Hot late season and you will be very lucky to see any at all but early in the season you will.

I’ve got two stories for you, well that I’ll tell now. First is the 4+ meter python we caught crossing a road about 10 k’s south of Gaborone.


Then other is coming home to my house in Ghanzi to find a 5 1/2 foot cobra on the bed. Luckily, my 9-year daughter was with me, because I had my back to the room to hit the light switch. It was 4 feet in front of her. I wouldn’t have seen it. It slipped off the other side of the bed and I had a good 15 minutes of nervous looking until I found it behind a book case and popped it with a pellet gun.

I have seen them on all of my seven trips. Don't know if that is lucky or not! I have seen a tracker set the non official world record for the standing broad jump in Moz.

Where is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi when you need him?

Steve: Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress is coming to mind. . . . By the way, I have never seen any snake in 7 Safaris, although a couple of Safaris ago in Zimbabwe they had just killed a big banded cobra and a black mamba, both in camp just prior to my arrival. I am knocking on a good piece of wood right now.

I see that I'm swimming against the current on this one, but I've always admired snakes and other reptiles, having kept and bred many species in years past. Bearing this in mind, it should be no surprise that I was always on the lookout for snakes on my African hunt, but the mid-winter temperatures kept them mostly out of sight. We saw one or two tracks in the sand, but the only actual encounter with one was a burrowing, worm-like little guy that looked like a big nightcrawler. My PH was very adamant that I not even touch it with a stick, so it disappeared without giving me much of a chance to examine it.

A couple of days later my planned revenge on my PH for one of his practical jokes was dependent on my artistic skills, as I used a pocketknife, a piece of garden hose, and some electrical tape to manufacture a "Goodyear snake" that landed on his chest as he relaxed during a mid-day rest break. He casually flipped it off, commenting that he wasn't afraid of snakes but had merely been concerned for his client's safety earlier. The rubber reptile lay there in the sand for awhile until our driver, who had missed the interaction, returned from a visit to the bushes. The poor old guy nearly had an aneurism! I felt bad; right result, wrong target.

I would have dearly loved to have found one of the big rock pythons shown in a couple of these posts.

John

I haven't seen but one snake in Africa that wasn't in a cage, but the one I did see unnerved me no end, and I'm not particularly afraid of snakes, and collected them as a kid.

We were riding down the track in the Upper Lupande concession in the luangwa Valley, when one of the trackers spotted some Cookson's wildebeast about 600 yds off the road. we stopped and glassed them. There were some good ones in the group so we decided to try for one. The problem was the first 400 yds to them was covered with only 1 foot high grass, to a small wash that had some sparce shrubs, and one medium tree with a 10 foot Termite mound climbing it. This left another 200 yds to the nearest bull, across another 200 yds of grass.

The car was taken on down the road, leaving the PH, and myself lying in the grass by the road. We camando crawled the 400 yds to the termite mound without spooking the willies, or the three Eland bulls that were with them. We galss the willies for a while around the Termite hill, and finally picked out a very good bull at about 200 yds standing broad side. The only way I could steady the rifle and stay above the grass was to shoot from the termite mound as a rest. There were several holes in the mound, and I hooked my elbow in one of those holes to steady me from sliding back down the mound. fired the 375 H&H hitting the willie just behind the shoulder. He ran a big circle, and stopped broad side again to about 250 yds. I fired again hitting him 2 inches away from the first shot, and he dropped. We got up and stood there glassing him, me with my scope, and the PH with binocs. Foe some reason I turned back and looked at the mound, to see if I had left anything there, just in time to see a six foot Egyptian Cobra slide out of that hole where I had just placed my elbow 20 seconds before. My knees went weak, and I just sat down.

This was the last week of june, and it was still quite cold at night, and this was about 9:00Am so I guess the cobra was sluggesh and didn't move while I was there.

Believe it or not we didn't kill the snake, but I can assure you I have never gone near a hole in a termite mound again!

I have seen very few snakes in my 14 trips. However a couple of things regarding snakes do come to mind.

In 07, we were hunting the Lunda area in Tanzania. This was pretty thick country. In one particular area, we chased buffalo a lot. From the first trip in the bush, I noticed a monumental number of shed snake skins. This thick bush was unnerving enough just thinking about the buffalo, elephants and the lions. Add these snake skins and it was pretty terrifying. While I didn't keep a record of this, I seem to recall seeing 27 shed snake skins on one morning walk chasing buffalo! I have to admit that I started looking for snakes. I never saw one but there were clearly there.

The other thing I remember is hunting the Moyowasi in the mid 90's. We found a shed skin in good condition. My brother and I picked it up and took it back to camp. We laid it in a corner in our tent. When the cleaning people went it and saw that skin, there were loud screams and they ran like hell out of the tent. We had a big laugh over that one.

I am leaving in a week and a half to head to Zim. I hope I don't see a single snake while there. Like my deceased father used to say, there is only 2 kinds I am afraid of, dead ones and live ones!

Saw a small and very gorgeous puff adder on my first and only hunt in Namibia in 2007. Tracker spotted it first, thank heavens. Our PH had a spitting cobra slide off the thatched roof of his lodge and bounce off of him once.

We saw 4 Black Mambas in the Selous last week. 2 was shot, 1 was killed by the right front wheel and 1 escaped. On the way back, just outside Dar Es Salaam we drove over a Black Cobra!