Snakes
of its appearance he had his mouth partially open and some of the venom went in causing terrible inflammation and irritation. Luckily he had some milk with him which is a powerful antidote and ant-acid and this possibly saved him from permanent injury. The normal form of these cobras is to spray or spit their poison into what ever animal they are threatening or defending themselves. This is then followed by striking with their fangs the by now semi-blinded animal. Cobras have a neuro-poison that acts on the nervous system fast, and once the effect of the deadened nerves reach the heart muscles the organ ceases to work and death is immediate.
The other unpleasant chap is the black mamba. He is large and most dangerous and can run easily up to 12ft in length. It is thicker and heavier than the green mamba very fast, and very agile and very vicious. Normally one has little trouble with them, as like most snakes they keep to their own way, and generally are far more frightened of you than the other way round. But there is a real danger if you happen to get in between a black mamba and his hole. Should you panic in this situation, you can be very likely struck as he returns to his home. This happened to me once in Tanganika again at mid-day when I was out stalking frankolin and I heard some rustling in bushes by an ant heap which was between me and the gentle noise. Very carefully keeping the Anthill between me and the rustling I slowly stalked it. I reached the anthill and moved slowly round it and then to my horror instead of the franklin that I had been expecting , out of the bushes came this enormous black mamba. He was only 3- 4 yards away with his head about 4 ft up in the air moving like greased lightning. Involuntarily I leapt backwards which was a stroke of luck as actually I had been standing on his hole at the base of the anthill. He shot into it and never was someone more relieved than me, as had I stayed where I was he would have struck me. As I was some way from the land rover my chances of survival would have been slim. But in the land rover in any case I always carried a good first aid out fit including ampules of serum, and other things including a sharp scalpel to make 2 deep incisions to squeeze the venom out as quick as possible. I would then use a handkerchief as a tourniquet to stop the flow of blood. Mambas don’t necessarily strike you on the limbs in fact they have a habit of striking you high on the shoulder or the back, both places difficult to deal with especially if you are on your own. As with cobras they don’t have to bite you because they have their mouth wide open with the upper and lower jaws making a wide angle of 180 degrees. They the press their mouth against your skin and their 2 fangs are now protruding and erect and as they strike you there are only two tiny puncture marks. Both cobras and mambas have only grooved fangs an inefficient way for the transmission of poison, but to compensate for this their toxin is so deadly that it needs only the minutest amount to kill you.
Mambas as mentioned before are particularly vicious and with the most deadly venom.. Whilst out there I heard of a case at Fort Jameson of a couple of African women who had gone to collect firewood in the bush with their children one of which was a baby on the Mother’s back. By chance they came upon a black Mamba with eggs. The mamba attacked and they fled running, but he pursued them, and in the panic the one woman dropped her baby. The mamba continued and attacked the Mother who died later, but he also returned and attacked the defenceless baby killing it also, even though all were now a long way from the nest of eggs by this time. This is the sort of chance that can happen with them , and it is bad news to come across one unexpectedly and you must prepare for the worst. The best defence I have found against a mamba as a last resort is a good strong stick, because when he comes at you fast with his head reared up in attacking mode, to attempt to shoot it is almost impossible. But a stick swung sideways, even a rifle although that is heavier and one
