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A Black Mamba is actually not black….they get their name from the black colour of the inside of their mouths.
Having said this, and from my personal experience as a complete amateur that unfortunately seem to attract snakes, I find it very difficult to make a quick ID of a snake on its colour or even the appearance of its scales….

Unfortunately a Black Mamba will seldom “pose” for a photo like a Moz Cobra…still think the Moz Cobras are a bit dumb …..and I do not think there are many people who have been able to get close-up photos of BM’s in the wild….if I remember correctly, Nico and Yvonne got some great close-up shots of a BM?



I have spoken to quite few people who got that spit into their eyes…it burns like battery acid!
A Black Mamba would not have stuck around for you to get a photo….unless you had a nice thatch roof on top of your car ….but then your last worries would have been to get a photo!!!

Article by Beeld reporter

Virginia Keppler, Beeld


Pretoria - The guardian angels of a Pretoria man "were working overtime" as he and his wife drove 170km with a dangerous Mozambique spitting cobra in their car.

Gordon Parratt, 69, remained calm while the undesirable 85cm-long passenger wound itself around his leg on several occasions.

He and his 65-year-old wife, Ilda, of Moreleta Park east of Pretoria, left the Biyamiti rest camp in the Kruger National Park on Friday.

After several kilometres Gordon felt something like an insect brush against his leg and foot and wiped it away.

As he was doing so again, he looked down and saw a snake next to his left foot. It looked like a Mozambique spitting cobra.

Although he was rattled, he remained calm and told his wife they had a "passenger".

"Fortunately I'm not the panicky type. My wife immediately put her feet up on the dashboard."

Thought car would be stolen

In Hazyview they stopped at a taxi rank but "I didn't want to get out there and leave my car because I was scared it would be stolen".

The couple then drove to the reptile park in Hazyview. They removed "everything that could move" from the car, but couldn't find the snake.

Ilda said the staff wanted them to leave the car and arrange other transport home, but her husband wouldn't have it.

An official at the reptile park gave them two rolls of stretch plaster.

If the snake should strike, they could use it to make a tourniquet to prevent the poison from spreading.

"I also asked them to alert all the medical centres along the way so that I could stop there, if need be," Gordon said.

Later on he once again noticed the snake near his foot. At that point he couldn't stop because they were in a pass.

Snake winds up leg in heavy traffic

"At Sabie we stopped, but couldn't find the snake.

"About 15km from Lydenburg the snake wound itself around my left leg and ankle. Its head came up to my knee.

"The traffic was heavy and it was raining hard, but I kept calm," he said.

Just before Lydenburg the couple stopped and enquired about a snake expert. Hein Geldenhuys, 49, was called.

After dropping his wife off at a guesthouse, Gordon drove to Geldenhuys's house.

Geldenhuys caught the cobra. "All you could see was venom flying," Gordon said.

Geldenhuys said a snake in a car is a nightmare. "Fortunately I managed to catch the snake without injuring it."

He was surprised to see "how calm the oom was".

He said these snakes are very dangerous because their venom attacks the nervous system and the body's soft tissues.

"The oom was very lucky. The Lord protected him and his guardian angels were definitely working overtime."

- Beeld

That is what I call presence of mind. Certainly my worste nightmare come true

Just shows you that a calm head in all situations might save your life. Great mental strength there Oom

The moral of the story is - don't park next to a snake to look at it. View it at a distance. This is not an uncommon story especially in Kgalagadi.

If you don't see it pray.

It's very unlikely that a snake goes into a car, so don't worry.
It is however likely that the snake will get into the engine compartment when you stop next to them, it's nice and warm. Heaps of fun getting them out! (Had that in the Kgalagadi just after telling the driver a story about it happening... )

It even made Dutch news! In Dutch.

A car is certainly one of the worst places to remove a snake from as there are so many hiding spots and place for a snake's tail to hold on. DuQues . Sometimes fun with a twist to it

I saw this 2 days ago on the road from Letaba to phalaborwa. Looking at some other pics im thinking mozambique spitting cobra. Might be wrong



[img=http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/3932/snake2.th.jpg]

[img=http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8674/snake3.th.jpg]

You are right, it is a mozambecan spitting cobra. If it happen that it spit you in the eyes, rins with a lot of water. DO NOT use MILK. It can cause secondry infection.
Koueeddie

On the S126 (Sweni Road) in January.....

It seems this one was close to your car

not really flying cheetah, amazing what a 400mm lens can achieve!