Black mamba rescue: a morning adventure in Queensburgh
WARNING: IMAGES OF ANIMAL FAECES BELOW.
Durban — The recent rescue of a thin black mamba in Queensburgh, Durban, highlighted the balance of the ecosystem.
Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans rescued a hungry mamba after a dassie for breakfast, on Friday.
Evans was called to a Queensburgh home, bordering the Roosfontein Nature Reserve.
He said a black mamba was seen basking on the paving around the pool, being watched closely by rock dassies/rock hyraxes around the pool.
Evans said it is rock dassies/rock hyrax baby season and their rodent-sized babies are a favourite meal for mambas, who ensure there is no overpopulation of dassies.
He said there were large gaps under the concrete sides of the homeowner’s pool, which were now dassie tunnels.
Initially, Evans did not see the mamba, but returned for a second attempt when it was seen again.
Local neighbourhood watch patroller Gareth Preen who helped Evans on several calls joined him.
“I stuck my phone under the concrete, into the cavity below, as we couldn’t see, and lit up the space with my JETBeam South Africa torch. After a lot of scanning around with the phone, I eventually found it, a few metres ahead of me,” Evans explained.
Preen started breaking out a rock and concrete, close to where the mamba was, hoping to give Evans access.
“Eventually, we turned to one of my most trusted friends - the hosepipe!
“I waited at the hole closest to the mamba, while Gareth watched with his phone and my JetBeam a few metres down from there. He told me it’s starting to move, then, it moved at some speed in his direction!” Evans exclaimed.
Evans said Preen did not scream, fall back and roll down the hill, which he thought everyone else would have done. He said Preen can keep a cool head.
“He backed off, and let me try to grab it,” Evans said.
He explained that the mamba moved quickly through the dassie tunnels.
“I ran along the rocky slope, on this particular side of the pool, kicking my slops off and stepping through a fresh, warm, dassie latrine site,” Evans described.
“Where there were larger openings, I’d try and grab the darting mamba, but kept missing.
“Finally, it tried to curl up, hoping it had found a safe spot. I reached in and grabbed all I could see with my African Snakebite Institute tongs. Unfortunately, that happened to be the mamba’s tail,” Evans continued.
“The mamba came around a corner, via a tunnel, and had a go at my hand. I dodged it, luckily, but phew, that gave me a wake-up call and a half!
“Gareth handed me my other tongs, and I grabbed the neck area. It refused for a while, but eventually reversed for me, allowing me to secure the head in my hand.”
Evans further described it as a brief adrenaline rush.
He said the mamba was thin and appeared dehydrated. It seemed it was struggling to hunt efficiently.
Evans added that the mamba’s condition would be assessed to determine the issue and provide treatment.
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