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I have read alot of stories here on the forum about episodes with snakes. I am absolutely petrified of snakes! Are there many snakes around in June or will they be hibernating at that time of year? Some reassurance please!

Guess who will be walking in front everwhere in Kruger in June!

quoted from Wilderness NP thread:


It doesn't always help, you know!
I know I'm evil , but I can't resist!

GP, the girl asked for reassurance, instead you are fanning the flames of fear.!!!!

Sorry, Twiga! Seriously now - you shouldn't have too much trouble in the winter. But always keep your eyes peeled. In the evenings - if you walk outside, try avoiding barefoot, always use a flashlight. NEVER just pick up a rock, piece of wood or something that's been lying around for some time. Make sure first.

Lets just say, I'll now be carrying her over more than one threshhold!!

I have had a few 'encounters' with snakes in SA but none of them were life-threatening or even remotely scary.

I think that you have to be quite unlucky or a bit careless to get bitten by a snake - if you think about it, there are tons of people in Africa who live among snakes every day of their lives but who never get bitten.

The biggest risk for me comes from walking among the vegetation (grass) in the bush, which you are unlikely to do often as a tourist but which I have done a few times, and stepping on a puff-adder, as they are very sedentary and do not move at the approach of any animal or human.

Apart from puff adders, the only other snake that I have 'extreme respect for' while out walking is the black mamba but I have yet to come across one in my many bush walks.

The cobras are high on my 'must see' list - I have seen a few of the other venomous snakes, or members of their families, at fairly close quarters but have yet to see a cobra!

I have to agree with you Tabs. I've got serious respect for a snake, but your chances of having a fatal encounter with one are slim indeed. The Riverbend Crocodile Farm near Margate on the KZN South Coast now have a snake demonstration on Sunday afternoons. We attended one of these and the guide explained that it's actually the people who KEEP snakes that are more likely to get bitten than us normal people. Just be aware that there might be snakes, and keep your eyes open at all times.

Saw this python in Lower Sabie, but it is not clear in the photo just how long it was:

Snakes are not uncommon during winter in the Park. Last year July we saw a +- 3m long black mamba +- 2km outside Shingwedzi gate. A research team researching fruit bats there also saw a moz spitting cobra.

Most of the snakes, including venomous ones like black mambas and boomslang, I've seen in the Park was in actual fact seen in the winter months.

Also be very carefull at night times in camps for night and puff adders. Not so sure whether they'll be that active in winter though!

Check carefully at night ... follow the hints that were given by the others.

I only encountered a "Puff Adder" and "Mozambiquen Spitting Cobra" in the park.

Fact is, most of them will rather avoid you...

[musketeer mode] no 2 ... best would be to get one big, huge, enormous, baseball bat (steel pref.). If you see snake, throw bat at it ... if need to, wife as well. Then RUN!!! (Away ... Not to !!) Remember, he who runs away, lives to see another day .. [/musketeer mode]

Thanks W@H.

I have also read that snakes can't see all that well. They can spot movement. So if you stand dead still you might make them loose interest and they'll move off.

Problems with puffadders is that they are so damn lazy and well camouflaged that most people get bitten by them while stepping on it. They bite more people than any other in SA. They are very venomous!

Meeting up with a black mamba is a different story: They are far more aggresive and at max 4 meters long can lift their body 2/3 in the air! That means they'll be able to stand taller than most humans! When hit by a mamba you better get help fast as they are one of the world's most venomous snakes!! They inject large quantities of venoum. Recorded cases included people dying within 30mins of getting hit.

I have spent many many years running in the bush, following animals, through bushes, in rivines and up mountains and I can't recall spotting a snake once. My mom, who is petrified of snakes, walks outside to water her wall creeper and looks up and into the eyes of a boomslang about 5cm from her face. Then about a week later she walked around the house and saw a boomslang climbing the house wall up to my bedroom window. Needless to say it was straight up and about shoulder height!! Aah the joys of farm living in the Karoo. Ask Twigs, my mom, goes into cardiac arrest at the mention of a snake!! It seems funny that those that are really scared of them tend to be confronted by them more.

Edit: Incorrect species of snake: Boomslang.Thanks lovethelowveld...

Interesting about meeting snakes whilst hiking in the Kruger is that the rangers do carry some first aid kit with them and they know first aid themselves but when you get hit by a mamba or seriously injured by anything else they'll radio in a heli to come and fetch you.

Problem is that it might take some time for the heli to arrive and those minutes could be valuable when you had a ramba with mr. mamba. The rangers would like to tell you that the best rememdy is not to get bitten by it in the first place. With a bit of a smile on their faces.

Just 2 drops are enough to kill a human.Their venom is very potent and is mainly based on neurotoxins that are absorbed quickly by the prey. The venom will cause a blockade at the neuromuscular junction which blocks every signal from the brain passing through the nervous system to the muscles which causes systemic paralysis. The prey will die from suffocation due to paralysis of the muscles of respiration.

Bwana, you're spot on. I have a nasty habit of being respectful and curious but not scared of anything. I have NEVER seen a "wild" snake, only at snake parks. Hubby, who's scared of any moving critter smaller than himself , have twice come face to face with puff-adders on our monthly fishing trips, when I spark to get there, it's gone! My sister, who lives on a small holding near Sterkfontein Caves, have seen them all, incl a Cape Cobra we think - she's terrified of snakes. That's unfair!