Black Mamba

We recently found these little* Black Mamba in our open air shower recently. We watched it from a very safe distance as a bite from this guy would pretty much be it, potentially within the hour!! They have neurotoxic venom which attacks the nervous system, potentially causing paralysis and the subsequent, aforementioned rapid death.

We watched as he struck out a wee Striped Skink that was hanging around the shower; we didn't see anything more of the skink, so I assume he became dinner!! It was incredible seeing the inside of its mouth, Jet Black, which is where they get their name. They also have a coffin-shaped head, beautifully apt considering how deadly they are.

Seeing a mamba was arguably top of my list of things to see before I came here, despite the apparent dangers involved. If you keep you distance snakes will always rather try and escape than have an aggressive confrontation, so if you're careful you don't need to worry and can just enjoy

*He was around 80-100cm. They tend to grow to around 3+ metres.