The Misunderstood Snake

One of the most highly feared, and misunderstood creatures are snakes.

Of all the snakes that are found worldwide, less than 10% is considered dangerous to humans.

Over the last few weeks we have had a few sightings of these elusive reptiles in the reserve. Although highly feared, most snakes will move away from humans to avoid confrontations. Believe it or not but they fear us more than we fear them! Most of their bites usually occur when trying to pick-up, corner or step on them. They will only attack in self-defense as we are not considered a food option for any snake, and they only use their venom to catch prey, and definitely wouldn’t want to waste it on a human! Thus the main diet for most snakes in the world is rodents.

The South African Rock Python is the largest snake in Africa and grow up to a massive length of 6m. This non-venomous snake has been known to even feed on small antelope – it kills its prey through constriction. We recently had a sighting of a 4.5m python on the reserve while on game drive, which was quite a rare sighting and enjoyed by all.

If you ever encounter a snake the best advice is to just stand still and let it pass. Most fear is through a lack of education for these interesting reptiles.