MY SISTER SCARED A POOR BLACK MAMBA

  AGE – 10

My grandmother, my sister and I were walking in the park at the top of Waterburg Plateau.  While we were walking, my sister was the first one to notice a very large snake traveling in front of us.  The snake was still at a fairly safe distance but this was no snake to underestimate.  My mind was racing!   I was thinking: “It was a Black Mamba.  Definitely (in my opinion) the world’s most dangerous snake.  I mean come-on? It’s the fastest poisonous snake in the world.  It’s the second longest poisonous snake in the world.  It’s classified as one of the 10 most poisonous snakes in the world.  And I’m talking about a neurotoxin, a poison that works faster than most snake poisons.  This snake has enough venom to kill more than 100 men.”   

In my mind, I was already planning what to do if one of us were bitten. What you’re supposed to do, after being bitten with by a snake with a neurotoxin, is lie down and slow down your breathing.  This will reduce the amount of poison going through your heart.  Also it would be good to tie anything around your limb that was bitten.  And every 10 minutes release a small amount of poison to circulate through your system.  Considering we were on top of one of Southern Africa’s largest and highest plateaus, there was no chance of surviving this mamba, if we were bitten.  You might be able to outrun a small mamba, but this was a terrifying mamba. I estimated it to be at least 4 meters long.  Raising its head a good 50cm’s above ground while casually slithering nearby. I froze hoping it wouldn’t see us. I was thinking about the folk story about travelers who were discovered dead very close to a black mamba.  According to the story caught the mamba in a bag. However, while they were handling the snake, they hadn’t even realized that they were bitten; because the snake bites extremely fast.  So not far from where they had caught their black mamba, they just started dropping dead.  This might just be a story. I don’t know but it indicates the seriousness of how fast a mamba can strike you, and how quick you start dying.  As I stood there frozen, my sister scrambled close to the mamba and pulled out her camera.  Not the greatest idea in the world.  The mamba picked up speed and headed straight towards me and my grandmother.   We just ran, we had to run uphill, it was the only chance we had.  I never saw my grandmother move so fast up a rock face.

When the whole event was over, nobody knew where the snake went.  It just simply disappeared.  Very likely, its home was close by and there was some sort of hole or small cave where my grandmother and myself had been standing.  Need I say, never come between a mamba and its home.  Our Grandmother wasn’t too impressed but at least she was grateful to have survived this event.  For me, the image of us scrambling up the rack face I thought it was a very funny event.  Dangerous but funny :-)

Wikipedia – The Online Encyclopedia

It is the largest venomous snake in Africa and the second longest venomous snake in the world.     Adult Black Mambas have an average length of 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) and a maximum length of 4.5 meters The Black Mamba is reputed to be the fastest moving snake in the world, and has been claimed to move at up to 19.2 km/h (12 mph).                                                                                                                    A single bite from a Black Mamba may inject enough venom to kill 120-140 grown men often attacking the body or head, unlike most other snakes.                                                                                             Black Mambas are among the ten most venomous snakes in the world.                                               Black Mamba venom can kill a human in 20 minutes.

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