Catching Africa's Deadliest Snake
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00 It's a busy time of year for Simon Keyes, the resident bounty hunter of the snake world.
00:07 I saw this sort of big, sort of greyish snake. It's inside the kitchen. As soon as I saw it, I just, "Whoa, you've got a big black mamba in there."
00:15 The snakes I'm most wary of is the black mamba. But I get excited. I'm not scared of them. I actually quite like dealing with them.
00:24 But when you finish with it, you're sweating, your heart rate's going, it's just madness.
00:29 Problem snake removal is his business. And come summer, it's silly season for snake catchers.
00:39 It's such a fast thing, and the teeth are very small, you know, they're only about that sort of long, probably 5mm, 6mm, 7mm, maybe max.
00:45 And they don't actually need to open their mouth very wide at all. It's almost they just quickly bang on the skin. It doesn't take much.
00:52 You lucky boy. That was the quickest cup of coffee you've ever had.
00:57 I'm getting rid of it.
00:59 Well, don't worry. Okay, what am I going to do?
01:01 Simon has backup. Neville Vulmerins is a local snake expert who helps Simon keep the human mamba conflict to a minimum.
01:10 Neville has survived two mamba bites, but he's one of the lucky few.
01:16 When I was 16, I was bitten by a mamba I was trying to catch. That was the first time.
01:22 You just bite throbs, and after that you have this tingling feeling, sort of moving up your arm.
01:28 About an hour and a half later I was in hospital, unconscious, and only came out of it about 70 hours later.
01:36 If you're a ballerina, you're going to fall and you're going to twist your ankle.
01:39 If you're a racing driver, you're going to crash. A snake catcher, unfortunately you get bit.
01:44 Catching deadly mambas may seem like an exciting hobby, but their lives hang in the balance with every call.
01:56 There is a war brewing in Mamba Valley. Mambas kill people, and people kill mambas.
02:03 Every year during the silly season, hundreds of snakes are killed or captured for the fast-growing exotic reptile trade.
02:15 A black mamba fetches around $160 in the snake trade, and they're in high demand to collectors around the globe.
02:25 Concentration levels go through the roof, because if you slip, you are potentially dead.
02:32 I haven't got this thing blackened today.
02:36 Do you want me to grab it?
02:38 Actually, you've got one.
02:42 I'm not happy about this at all.
02:47 I need to get my finger behind.
02:50 Do you want to take that off?
02:52 If you slightly release your grip for half a second, it will take a gap and bite you.
03:04 It doesn't matter how many times you do this, you can so easily slip.
03:09 It's not what I care, it's the front.
03:12 Watch those two tops, don't slide.
03:14 It's a bit tight.
03:22 It was a bit close to my leg.
03:24 These things are like a loaded gun.
03:26 It's got its own mind, it pulls its own trigger, it doesn't need someone to help it.
03:30 It's game over for a life in leafy suburbia.
03:34 [Silence]