Catch Me a Black Mamba

I had to watch this TV programme last night. I have a deep-seated fear of serpents after too many nasty experiences with them, and when I know there’s a TV programme I just have to watch, maybe just to make sure the vile creatures remain inside the TV and don’t escape into my living room. It’s not a phobia I have; phobias are irrational fears, and the fear of snakes is a most rational and eminently sensible to fear to have.

Thea Litscha Koen is unintentionally a professional snake catcher in Swaziland. She has rid so many houses of snakes that she is affectionately known as the White Witch. And it’s not just any old snakes she deals with – it’s primarily the Black Mamba, Africa’s most deadly snake, that she likes best.

The Black Mamba (which is grey) gets its name from the blackness of the inside of it’s mouth, and if it opens its mouth to you that may well be the last sight you will see in this life. Its venom can kill a grown man in a few hours, less for a child, and this along with its agility and speed make it deadly. In Swaziland around 40 people die from its bite every month during summer (October – March) when it is most active. Local people are often slow to seek medical help preferring to rely on traditional medicine first. (This goes for India too -  http://healthmad.com/health/snake-bites-different-approaches-different-results/) Even if proper help is sought it may be far away and hard to access and one of Thea Litscha Koen’s aims is to establish a clinic that specialises in snake bites.

It can grow up to 4 metres long and is capable of lifting the front one third of it’s body up to look a man in the eye – a terrifying sight to encounter in open country when there is nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide.

The TV programme followed Thea and her (at first reluctant) husband on their call-outs from people who had snakes in their houses and were too afraid to deal with them themselves. They were even to scared to kill the snakes much top Thea’s delight. One of her other aims is to educate people regarding snakes – to let them see how valuable they are with in the eco-system (keeping down the rodent population) and teaching people how to handle them.

Thea has rescued many snakes, and not just Mambas, and now is involved in tracking them when she releases them into the wild to observe the effects of relocation. I’m afraid I would be more inclined to kill them once they had been caught but I see where Thea is coming from. Is Swaziland the better for Thea’s approach? Is it a safer place? I’m not so sure, but I think a few hundred Mambas need to show their appreciation.