Surviving a KING COBRA BITE in BORNEO!
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00:00 In this video I'm going to show you some behind the scenes footage from that trip and explain
00:04 to you what's going through my head when I'm in situations like this.
00:07 And a snake big enough to take down an elephant with the amount of venom that it carries in
00:13 its venom glands.
00:14 And also situations like this.
00:22 Now sadly I've known people who have died from getting bitten by king cobras because
00:27 there's no anti-venom over there.
00:28 One of the bites that took place was about 7 years ago, we'll talk about this later.
00:33 And the second bite which I haven't talked about yet was actually from about a month
00:36 ago, 2 months after we left Borneo.
00:39 My guide Diaz actually got bitten by a king cobra.
00:43 So we're going to head down to the dam later, FaceTime him, talk about his story.
00:46 And then when I want to release the head, the head just suddenly bite me from inside.
00:52 Yeah right so as you're releasing it, it turns around and gets you on the finger.
00:57 Yes.
00:58 So first off, where is Borneo and why did I want to go there?
01:02 So Borneo is about a 2 hour flight from Denpasar airport in Bali.
01:07 And the reason why I wanted to go over to that country wasn't even to film all these
01:10 crazy snakes and crocodiles like we did on this trip.
01:14 But it was to raise awareness about orangutans.
01:16 I wanted to go over there and see first hand what's going on with them, with the deforestation.
01:21 And I just wanted to see this amazing creature which we share 97% of the same DNA as in person.
01:28 So we flew into Borneo, straight away met up with Diaz and Hari which were the guides
01:32 for our trip.
01:33 Absolute legends, if you ever want to go to Borneo, check them out on Instagram, they
01:36 do some really cool things over there.
01:38 And it was crazy, I was super tired after a big day of travelling but we literally got
01:42 picked up at the airport and were on a boat heading out into the jungle to these national
01:46 parks which hold these orangutans.
01:49 Now it was this massive cruise ship like boat, similar to the one that we took over to Komodo
01:53 Island at the end of last year to film Komodo Dragons.
01:57 We were sleeping on this boat, living off it for the next three days.
02:00 Even cruising up the river on the way there we were seeing orangutans up in the trees.
02:04 We were seeing proboscis monkeys cruising up the riverbanks, they're the ones with the
02:08 massive noses.
02:09 And yeah we were going on night trips into these national parks looking for other animals,
02:14 finding big tarantulas, snakes out in the little kayaks.
02:19 Keep in mind this river is filled with saltwater crocodiles.
02:22 We saw some big salties and some false gharial while we were over there.
02:26 And it's so crazy to me that the locals are just okay with taking these little canoes
02:30 up these rivers with these big saltwater crocodiles.
02:33 And yeah throughout that time period we were going into these national parks and working
02:37 with these orangutans.
02:46 So it's day two at the moment, we're just heading to the second place where we're going
02:49 to be looking for orangutans.
02:51 There's a few big males that live in this area that we're hopefully going to be able
02:54 to get on camera.
02:55 But yeah, beautiful day out here in Borneo, let's see what we can find.
03:04 So we're just walking into one of the parks at the moment and we've got a little orangutan
03:08 right here.
03:10 Beautiful little male by the looks of things.
03:14 Just laying down on this boardwalk, doesn't have a bad life laying down here in the shade.
03:23 Let's go.
03:36 Such crazy creatures, beautiful animals.
03:38 In the last 70 years their population over in countries like Sumatra has decreased by
03:44 about 70%.
03:45 Now the thing is, that was the only reason why I went over to Borneo to film this one
03:50 video about orangutans.
03:52 But the majority of what we filmed came within the next seven days that we were over in Borneo.
03:56 So after having that eye opening experience about those great apes out in the jungle of
04:02 Borneo, we headed to a small village, it was called Batua village, way up this river.
04:07 And we stayed with the villagers there, there was probably about 100 people living in this
04:11 village alongside this river that is filled with big crocodiles.
04:14 It was crazy to me, there was little kids swimming in the river out the front and you'd
04:18 see big saltwater crocodiles swimming past out in the middle of the river.
04:22 A few kilometres up at the mouth of the river where the people hunt the crocodiles, hurt
04:26 them, poison the water, take more fish than they need to, there's been about 30 attacks
04:31 in that village.
04:32 In this little village where they don't do any of that, there hasn't been any.
04:36 Only thing we were thinking is if there's not a very good population of crocodiles there,
04:40 maybe that's why there was no attacks yet.
04:42 But yeah we were seeing them cruise up the middle of the river which was pretty crazy
04:46 when there's little kids swimming around.
04:48 Now they actually had a little pet saltwater crocodile and since we couldn't catch any
04:51 crocodiles while we were up there, we thought we'd take this croc way up the river, get
04:56 some shots in the water with it, go for a swim with it and teach people about these
04:59 animals.
05:00 Now this croc was around a metre long, could grow another 4 metres in its lifetime if it's
05:05 lucky.
05:06 And yeah we did exactly that, we were swimming through the water with this crocodile, talking
05:09 about it, picked it up on my shoulder.
05:11 So we've got to take him back at the moment.
05:15 So I've just decided to chuck him on my shoulder because he actually went a fair way up the
05:18 river.
05:19 And we'll walk the big fella back down.
05:28 Just another day in Borneo.
05:35 So obviously this isn't a fully wild croc, you can build a relationship with these crocodiles,
05:40 it's a lot harder than any other species but as you can see right here I've got one on
05:45 my shoulder.
05:46 So if you're trying this out in the wild, whatever you do, do not try to pick up a wild
05:49 crocodile because you will get bitten.
05:52 Pretty cool experience though.
05:53 We know these animals are unpredictable and it would be totally our fault of course if
05:57 we got bitten by it.
05:58 The final shot we wanted to get was holding the crocodile up to my face.
06:01 So first we tried it underwater, ended up getting a really cool shot of it on the bottom
06:06 of the river.
06:07 And the final shot was its face holding up to my face in the river.
06:11 Tried it once, tried it again, third time, whack.
06:39 Should we wash out first or okay?
06:42 Later.
06:43 Later.
06:44 Do you think when you wrapped the first part, did you clamp it together, close it?
06:58 Yeah.
06:59 How do you do this?
07:00 Ah yeah.
07:01 And then you wrap.
07:02 Yeah you feel good it's closed.
07:03 It's a bit dizzy?
07:11 It's a bit dizzy?
07:12 Yeah.
07:13 Because the blood.
07:14 Of course.
07:15 Yeah.
07:16 Because we were in the water when he got bitten, there was so much blood coming out of right
07:22 here and we thought that that artery or vein, whatever it was, got cut by the crocodile's
07:27 tooth.
07:28 So we closed it up, got it back to the village.
07:31 On the way back there, Hari spotted snakes in the trees and was trying to get us to stop.
07:49 We were like, no, we're getting you back to the village.
07:52 Got him back there, cleaned it up, missed that area.
07:55 He'd been bitten by crocodiles before, it was totally okay.
07:58 And yeah, later that night we were back out there looking for more animals in the river.
08:15 So what we'd do is we'd go out into this river and we'd cruise up a really big river that
08:20 snakes through the jungle of Borneo.
08:22 And we'd have so many eyes spotting out from the canoes that we were cruising in.
08:25 So what type of frog is it?
08:27 False, swim, toad.
08:28 False, swim, toad?
08:29 Yeah.
08:30 Or, I don't know what the book was.
08:31 I'll say the first one.
08:32 So we've just spotted a false swim toad.
08:39 This is a really big animal sitting up in this tree right here.
08:42 We're above crocodile water, but I might climb up here and see if I can grab him.
08:48 Chuck the GoPro on.
08:49 Okay, I'm here.
08:50 Good boy.
08:51 I'm prepared to yield.
08:52 I'm prepared to jump.
08:59 Okay.
09:01 Because this type of frog is more lazy during the day.
09:08 Got him.
09:09 Yeah.
09:10 Whoa.
09:11 He's massive.
09:12 Here.
09:13 Watch his foot on that little...
09:14 There you go.
09:15 Oh my God.
09:22 That is crazy.
09:28 That is such a cool looking animal.
09:30 That's the one that my wife loves.
09:32 Oh really?
09:33 The false swim toad.
09:34 Swamp.
09:35 S-S-W-A-M-P.
09:36 Swamp.
09:37 False swamp.
09:38 Right.
09:39 So it's actually called the false swamp toad.
09:44 I got the name wrong of it, but that is a crazy looking animal right there.
09:49 Such a cool catch as well.
09:50 So you can see those webbed feet at the back there used for swimming.
09:55 And these big toads are actually feeding on insects mostly, but seeing as they get to
09:59 this big size, they can also feed on lizards and other things like that as well.
10:04 That's such a crazy looking animal to find out here on this little boat trip in Borneo.
10:07 And all the animals come to the river.
10:12 Not yet, mate.
10:13 We'll let you go soon.
10:14 I didn't even know that these guys existed, let alone we're out here in the forest.
10:18 But yeah, they're kind of like the cane toads back in Australia, the same size, but completely
10:22 different appearance.
10:24 Let's keep going up the river and see what else we can find.
10:26 That false swamp toad that we spotted up in the tree was actually one of everyone's favorite
10:30 animals when they saw the video.
10:32 And rightly so.
10:33 It's such a cool toad.
10:34 Such a weird looking creature to find chilling up above the water.
10:38 But yeah, we found more little snakes on that trip.
10:40 Earlier that night at the village, we found another python.
10:45 It's alright.
10:48 It didn't bite you, it just bit me.
11:02 So this is called a blood python.
11:04 We just rescued him from this little village right here.
11:06 For their size, about just a meter long, they're a very fat snake.
11:10 So these pythons actually live down holes and they're coming out at night.
11:14 What this guy would be doing is he's hunting, coming out here, trying to feed on rats.
11:18 But how the villagers actually hunt them is they'll find these holes, have to dig these
11:22 snakes out of it, and then they'll cook them up.
11:24 And as you can see, what's in my hand right now, there's a lot of meat on it.
11:28 What do they taste like?
11:30 They taste like chicken.
11:32 Everything tastes like chicken.
11:33 So we're actually going to move this snake out of this area of the village because if
11:37 the villagers do end up finding it here, they're going to cook it up.
11:40 It's a good start because there is a hole inside.
11:43 So the next few days consisted of lots of exploring, trying to find as many species
11:48 of animals as we can, lots of eyes out there in the jungle looking for these animals.
11:53 And it paid off because we found lots of different species.
11:57 Look.
11:59 Whoa.
12:00 Hey, hey.
12:03 Hey, hey.
12:05 Crazy man.
12:07 Oop, oop, oop, oop.
12:10 He bit me.
12:12 I don't want to bother you, my brother.
12:16 So let's go, okay?
12:19 Sorry.
12:20 I'm so sorry.
12:22 Okay.
12:23 Come back.
12:25 Beautiful.
12:26 Beautiful.
12:27 Good job, Diaz.
12:29 Let's keep going.
12:31 We were finding wild orangutans, heaps of snakes, heaps of birds.
12:35 But what I want to mainly focus on is one of the days that we were out there in the
12:40 jungle, because looking back at it, what we found in that one day was crazy.
12:43 Now, it started off pretty chill.
12:45 We found a baby king cobra.
12:47 They're still just as venomous as the big ones.
12:49 You wouldn't want to get bitten by that snake out there.
12:52 Yeah, better, okay.
12:55 But yeah, just picking this snake up right now.
12:58 That is absolutely beautiful.
13:00 You can see him standing up in that little hood position, looking at the camera.
13:03 I'm always amazed coming out here to Indonesia and finding these snakes.
13:08 Done it a few times over the past few years, and that right there is just so cool.
13:13 The king cobra out here in the jungle of Borneo, highly venomous species, and a species that
13:19 carries a massive energy about it as well.
13:21 When you get a big king cobra looking at you in the face, it's a pretty crazy feeling,
13:25 to say the least.
13:26 Hopefully, we're going to find some bigger ones over this little trip.
13:30 But yeah, look at that, juvenile king cobra.
13:33 All right, we'll let him go, mate.
13:35 See ya.
13:38 Then, after a bit more searching out there in the jungle, our guide spotted a huge reticulated python.
13:45 I can tell when he's about to strike, he kind of gives me a warning.
13:48 He opens up his mouth a little bit.
13:50 I'll see if I can move around, if we'll do it again, all right?
13:53 Ready? 3, 2, 1.
13:56 Wow.
13:57 There we go.
13:58 You know, that's not a warning that a small animal, or when they get big enough, even a human will get.
14:06 Whoa.
14:07 Nearly got me, mate.
14:15 We'll just lift him up right now.
14:17 Come on, baby, right here.
14:22 There we go.
14:24 You can kind of get a bit of an understanding about how big this snake is right now.
14:32 He is massive.
14:36 This trip to Borneo has seriously been crazy.
14:40 We've spent a lot of the time out here in the bush looking for snakes,
14:44 and it's paying off because we found some epic creatures, epic animals, and had some crazy experiences.
14:51 So, what we filmed next was a 5-meter king cobra out there in the jungle of Borneo.
14:58 Now, whenever I'm going over to these countries, and I know I could come in contact with these big king cobras out there,
15:04 in places like Western Bali and Borneo, there's no antivenom, so I know how dangerous this is.
15:10 You get whacked by a big king cobra out there, good luck surviving.
15:13 Now, our friend and our guide who we worked with the first time we worked with king cobras,
15:18 when I was 12 years old over in Indonesia, we filmed some absolutely incredible things over there,
15:23 and a month after we left, he got bitten on his pinky finger, wrapped it up, got to the hospital,
15:29 and as soon as they took that little compression bandage off or rubber band, whatever it was, he sadly passed away.
15:35 And it's the harsh reality of not having an antivenom for king cobras over there in these countries,
15:41 especially if you're way out in the forest living out there, it's pretty much a death sentence if you get bitten by these snakes,
15:47 and we knew that.
15:48 So, whenever I go over there to work with these king cobras, I take the pressure off myself straight away.
15:54 I'm happy to film them, I don't want to do anything too crazy, but if it feels right, and the connection with that animal is strong,
16:01 then we go for it, and we went for it this time with this big 5-meter king.
16:04 Now, this king cobra was going off to begin with, launching at me, nearly getting me, nearly getting my guide.
16:11 My dad was actually over there with me filming these big king cobras this time around,
16:15 and the final shot that I wanted for this clip was me holding up this 5-meter snake.
16:20 So, I calmed down, picked this snake up, so intense, focusing so that if this thing decides to turn around
16:29 and try to whack me on the face, I can get out of the way.
16:32 Talking about it for about 2 minutes, put it down, check the footage, there is no footage.
16:38 Because he was so worried about me, he forgot to film the whole thing, which meant I had to do it again.
16:42 Even more deep breaths, had to fully reset, there's no time to be frustrated, let's do it again.
16:47 So, I picked this snake up, even more intense this time, talking about it for about 2 minutes, put it down, check the footage,
16:55 it's overexposed, and I'm half cut out of the shot.
16:58 Are you trying to kill me, dad?
17:00 Did it again, got the shot, and it ended up being really cool.
17:04 I'm going to attempt to pick it up at the moment, this big snake.
17:09 And what I want to show you is the reason why people can kiss these snakes on the back of the head and touch them,
17:17 is because they go into a trance-like state when they're fixated on something right in front of it.
17:25 So he's fixated on my guide at the moment, and what I'm going to do is slowly pick it up, being very careful.
17:37 Oh, take a look at that.
17:41 You alright, buddy?
17:44 Big king cobra, out here in the jungle of Borneo.
17:49 Look at that, that is a magnificent snake, and a snake big enough to take down an elephant with the amount of venom that it carries in its venom glands.
17:59 And a snake big enough to take down 20 of me.
18:03 You can't get bitten by this snake out here, highly venomous species.
18:17 What a beautiful animal, an absolutely amazing animal.
18:21 And this experience right here is what I wanted to have, coming to the wild lands of Borneo, out here in the jungle,
18:29 looking for these snakes, looking for orangutans, looking for all these animals.
18:34 And I'm going to remember this moment right here, but got to be very careful.
18:39 Alright buddy, a 5 meter king cobra, the biggest venomous snake in the world, and a magnificent one at that.
18:47 Can't even fit my hands around it, this snake's so big.
18:50 I'm going to put him back down.
18:53 The funniest thing that I realised when I got home and edited the footage was, I was picking that snake up for 6 and a half minutes,
19:06 trying to get that last shot, which is just crazy with a big snake like that.
19:10 Going over there, knowing what a bite from a king cobra can do, I had to have the conversation with my dad,
19:16 that if I was bitten on any of my fingers, you had to just chop it off straight away.
19:20 Which is not a combo many kids have with their parents.
19:23 He asked me what if I get bitten on the hand or further up, I was like, alright, then you can just leave me.
19:28 I'm taking the risk of a dry bite for that one.
19:30 Yeah, that was absolutely crazy, especially coming over to Borneo, thinking I'm just going over there to film a video about some harmless orangutans.
19:39 And I end up doing that, it's a pretty wild experience.
19:42 And yeah, after filming that big king cobra and having those crazy experiences with those deadly animals already,
19:48 we found a spitting cobra right after that, just crossing the road.
19:51 Because in a minute, he might spit his venom.
19:54 There we go.
19:56 A little bit just got on my lip.
19:58 After filming that, it stopped raining, I was already soaking wet at this point,
20:02 and we were walking up this track and found a red-headed krait.
20:05 Now that one is more venomous than the king cobras, drop for drop.
20:09 They got a lot more stuff going on in their venom, which you don't want to get tagged by, just as much as the cobras.
20:14 So it was a day of just constantly having to be fully aware of everything that's going on.
20:20 Because one mistake out of any of those snakes, apart from that big 4m reticulated python, you're probably going to die out there.
20:27 Even the reticulated python wouldn't be that fun to get bitten by.
20:30 And yeah, after that, I was happy with what we got filmed that day.
20:34 Decided to go back to the village, chill out for the afternoon.
20:37 The people at the village were cooking us fish that they'd just caught, it was so beautiful.
20:41 And actually, in that village, none of the kids who were there had ever seen white people before.
20:46 So I was laying on the floor in this little hut next to this river,
20:50 and there was 20 kids looking at me through the windows as I'm just chilling there, which was a pretty cool experience.
20:56 But yeah, left Borneo, left the boys, flew back into Bali, and started editing up the videos.
21:02 And that's the series that you see on my channel.
21:05 And I think it was probably my favourite series I've ever filmed.
21:08 We've been doing a lot of cool road trips recently, filming different animals.
21:11 But yeah, that was definitely one to remember.
21:14 Going to be going back to Borneo early next year, hopefully.
21:16 So Diaz Borneo, about a month ago, he was working with a big king cobra, getting it back out there into the wild.
21:24 Had it in a bag, and it actually bit him on the finger.
21:27 So what we're going to do is I'm going to get him on a FaceTime call to talk to you about this story,
21:31 and how he actually survived this bite, some of the natural remedies that they use when they get bitten by these snakes over there in Borneo.
21:39 Hello, my brother.
21:40 Diaz Borneo, how are we going, brother?
21:42 I'm doing good, my brother.
21:44 Do you want to tell me what happened when you got bitten by that king cobra?
21:47 It was on Friday. I don't know, on Friday, there were already three of my friends loose on that day.
21:53 On Friday.
21:54 Were you saying three of your friends have been bitten on Friday?
21:57 On Friday, yes.
21:58 On Friday.
21:59 All of them are passed away, you know.
22:02 Yeah.
22:03 But at that time, I need to release the snake, I said to myself.
22:08 And we have five king cobra in total that we want to release to the jungle.
22:14 First one that I want to move from the container box to the sack, I move it.
22:19 Nice and calm.
22:23 And then put it inside the sack.
22:24 I swept it with my other hand because it's outside of the sack to hold the head.
22:30 And then when I want to release the head, the head just suddenly bite me from inside.
22:36 Yeah, right. So as you're releasing it, it turns around and gets you on the finger.
22:41 Yes, turns around and get into my finger.
22:44 Luckily at the time, maybe just a little amount of venom, I think.
22:48 I keep trying to stay still, relax, enjoy the coffee.
22:52 Yeah.
22:53 Because at the time, we're waiting for the taxi driver for approximately 20 minutes.
22:58 My wife helped me to increase my immunity system like I usually did when I get bitten by a venomous snake.
23:04 Using the garlic, honey and stuff.
23:07 And I eat all of it.
23:08 So you've been bitten by many venomous snakes before.
23:12 And every time you get bitten by one that's highly venomous, you eat a lot of garlic to boost your immunity.
23:17 Yeah, but still I do a first aid.
23:21 Compression bandage.
23:22 First aid. Yes.
23:24 When I'm walking into a car, I feel it, you know.
23:29 It's hard to breathe.
23:31 There was one moment when I'm already on the hospital, my tongue get numb.
23:35 When they already get injecting the anti-venom.
23:38 When you say anti-venom, it's not actually King Cobra anti-venom, is it?
23:43 It's not.
23:44 It's from a different snake, so it doesn't work as well as if they actually made King Cobra anti-venom.
23:48 Yeah, my friend Jordi said to me, it's not really helpful with that.
23:53 It needs a lot of piles, you know.
23:55 Yeah, the other thing that I was thinking is, you've been bitten by venomous snakes your whole life since you were little.
24:02 Different species of cobras and everything.
24:04 So maybe you've built up a small immunity to the venom.
24:09 Could be, my brother.
24:10 I'm really sleepy at the time.
24:12 So I'm sleeping, and then when I wake up, my father and all my family are already there.
24:18 It was quite funny because I think, "Oh, am I dying?"
24:22 They are trying to keep me to stay more days on that hospital.
24:26 And they want to inject more anti-venom to me.
24:29 And Jordi said, "No."
24:31 Jordi has big no for that.
24:33 The next day, after the bite, we directly go to the mangrove areas to look for it.
24:41 You're a crazy man, Diaz.
24:44 The most powerful thing is your mind.
24:48 If your mind or what you are thinking is positive, always not give up with your life.
24:59 Because at the time, my son was crying, and I see my wife.
25:03 I say to myself, "I need to be alive."
25:06 I need to fight with this venom.
25:09 And yeah, God bless me, and I still have a chance to continue my life.
25:15 I say to myself also, "If I'm dying, and here, maybe my picture, when they are post my picture, it's still smiling."
25:25 Yeah, I saw all the photos.
25:27 You're smiling in every one.
25:29 Yes, it's still a handsome picture.
25:32 Be careful, my friend.
25:33 You are also a crazy guy.
25:35 You too, Diaz.
25:36 No, you're more crazy.
25:37 Yes.
25:38 See you, brother.
25:40 I think this time around, he was really lucky that he didn't get a big dose of venom,
25:44 because that's when it can get seriously dangerous over in countries like Borneo and Bali.
25:49 All right, and that's it for another video, everyone.
25:52 Thank you so much for watching this one.
25:54 It's been really cool reflecting on that trip over in Borneo.
25:58 Such an epic trip.
25:59 So many cool animals and experiences.
26:02 I'm glad I could film it for all of you.
26:04 I got a lot more cool trips coming soon.
26:06 In a few weeks, I'm going to be road tripping into the outback, looking for the most venomous
26:10 snakes in the world, doing some survival videos out there, seeing what other cool animals
26:14 I can find.
26:16 And then I'm going to be heading up north.
26:17 My mates are going to be meeting up there.
26:19 We're heading back to the place where we filmed those crocodiles not too long ago, living
26:23 off the land out there, doing some fishing videos, exploring.
26:26 Back down to the sunny coast for a week, and then over to Indonesia to do some more filming
26:30 over there.
26:31 Thank you so much for allowing me to do all of this stuff.
26:34 I'm so grateful.
26:36 And yeah, we've got some really cool adventures coming soon here on YouTube.
26:39 New video out next week, part two of my snake island adventure.
26:43 We found some really cool snakes in that second part.
26:46 But yeah, thank you so much for watching.
26:48 I'll see you legends next week in the next adventure.
26:51 ciao.