The black mamba is Africa’s deadliest snake. Untreated, its bite has a fatality rate of 100 percent, making it a killer among killers on a continent where it is thought that nearly 20,000 people die of snake bites each year, and the residents of Swaziland in southern Africa have suffered losses for generations. With essentially no access to anti-venom, many people turn to traditional healers for help, but their herbal remedies always fail, leaving Swazis feeling fearful and defenseless against one of their nation’s most infamous killers.
Swaziland resident Clifton Koen doesn’t really care for snakes, but his wife, Thea Litschka-Koen, is crazy about them. With her husband’s sometimes reluctant help, she has endeavored to change attitudes about black mambas and other snakes found in the area. In addition to starting the nation’s only reptile park, devoted to educating the public and providing a refuge for the animals, the two have become the region’s go-to experts for safe, humane snake removal from homes, schools, resorts and workplaces. In the course of catching and relocating any number of snakes per day, Thea and Clifton give impromptu lessons about the snakes, covering fact and fiction, and do their best to prevent any unnecessary casualties – human or reptile.
In addition to their other efforts, Thea and Clifton developed a program designed to track black mambas in the wild for the first time and to gain new insights into their behavior. With the help of a snake expert from Johannesburg, they were able to surgically insert radio transmitters in a number of captured black mambas, allowing them to follow the snakes after their release. If their research pays off, they may be able to show that their relocations are working, successfully removing snakes from residential areas for the long term, and thereby bringing some relief to the locals and some respite for the snakes.
NATURE’s Black Mamba premieres Sunday, November 8 at 8pm (check local listings).
Photo by Andrew Yarme © Tigress Productions
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This sound like what I do at the Cape. If you need assistance Id be happy to relocate.
Interestng!
This looks awesome! I can’t wait to see it! I remember when Steve Irwin did that show about the world’s deadliest snakes and the Black Mamba was one of the worst. I think snakes are just so pretty.
I lived in Swaziland for a little over 2 years working as a doctor. We saw many snakebite victims but never mamba victims – they died before they got there. I could not tell what region of Swaziland they were working in. Was it Simunye or Big Bend? It was a great story with lots of amazing closeup work. I had a mamba go up on my porch while I was at work and one of the old Swazis killed it with a stick. We had lots of mamba stories and my blood runs a little cold even thinking about them. Thanks!!
I think someone should offer a reward for every dead black mamba. I feel sorry for the children and families who have to live in fear of these snakes. They seem to feed off a lot of birds not rodents, so i dont understand their usefulness. Their population is growing and if reduced i dont think anyone would miss them. If i won the lottery i would offer a reward. thanks
I agree with Peter Ewanick. I don’t understand the usefulness of the Black Mambas either. I am not happy with their growing population!
Fascinating program and what a courageous couple, Thea in particular being totally fearless. I took many hikes in South Africa with a snake bite kit just in case.
As an anesthesiologist I had no idea you could pass a breathing tube and anesthetize a snake. The answer was in the film and they made such a dangerous maneuver look so easy.
Incredible application of scientific methods to help humanity and nature. I would love to visit them and have recorded the program to share with my children. Truly a compassionate couple.
@Peter and Elizabeth. What use are elephants to us? Maybe we should kill all of them too or bring their numbers down? What use are dolphins? Maybe we should do an anual round-up in nets and bring their numbers down. Or what about homeless or needy people maybe we should cull them because they are not usefull! Your statements are completely ignorant and infantile.And please indicate what research shows an increase in the number of black mamba populations anywhere. They may not be of great use to us as a society as a whole or even make a very big impact in an ecosystem but they still play a part in the balance of life.And deserve the respect and protection that is afforded to other more “popular” animals. I do not agree that black mambas are such a severe threat as they have been made out to be and the number of bites has been greatly exagerated. So I do not agree totally with what the documentary is showing but I’m not going to sit by and accept completely uneducated remarks like those ones passed above.
Hey Shame, maybe you did not see the program, these people are terrified of them. When you start to find them in your homes and hotel rooms, to me, they are a real deadly threat. About the elephant population, unfortunately I believe they are on the endangered species list because of their ivory tusks so their population is very low and not a threat to human life.. Dolphins are not a threat to human life. In Texas they have an annual rattlesnake round-up to curb their population. In North America any threat to human life by an animal or reptile would not be tolerated. If you do not believe they are a real threat, ask yourself, would I sleep in one of their homes? would I let my children play in their backyards? I know I wouldn’t. I believe when you start to find these snakes in homes on a regular basis, educated or not, I would bet that there are too many of them. The difference with these snakes is that there are no warning signs they are around like a rattler. I have know problem making them extinct unless someone can give me good reason to change my mind. thanks Peter
As I watch the PBS special while typing this, I am amazed at the daring couple’s attempts to capture and even track them with transmitters. While I do agree that destroying an animal that appears to have no “value”, to arbitrarily kill them is not the answer either. Perhaps in time, htere might be a discovery that even a venomous snake may prove to have medicinal properties as with similar poisonous animals. As for the numerous deaths, perhaps it is the humans that are encroaching upon their territory more than the other way around. In many countries, even poisonous animals may prove to be a delicacy. Who knows, perhaps someday an over population may prove to be used as food.
Elephants were on the endangered species list but their numbers have increased to such a point in some countries that they are actually starting to cause devastation and regularly encroach on subsistance farmers crops and even kill these farmers sometimes, also in the Kruger national park elephants are killed to keep their numbers from exploding (cull). In Africa more people die from hippo attacks than any other animal does this mean we should kill all te hippos.I am not afraid of black mambas and I have caught and rescued many over the years, they are not aggresive killers like their reputaion makes them out to be. And to state that they should be made extinct is completely unfounded. The only reason people are so terrified is because they don’t know any better and this can only be changed through education. With regard to warning these snakes may not offer any audible warning but they do move away as fast as possible when approached and as a percentage, the number of black mamba bites compared to any other African snake is less than 2 percent, so they are definately not a major threat to human life. Here you have a better chance of being killed by a cow or donkey than you do of dying from a mamba bite. These snakes are highly strung nervous snakes and at the same time one of the most intelligent snakes in Africa. They deserve protection.
I can only say one word – AWESOME – you guys are doing an amazing job! Instead of negating the positive work you are doing, the critics should give you well-deserved praise and encouragement. Keep it up and I am looking fwd to the watching the next documentary!
Wow, Thea is an amazing woman. Her efforts to educate people are reaching far beyond Africa: after the show was done, I did Google searches for black Mambas and Swaziland…I was simply left wanting to know more!
Shane I agree 100 percent! Black mambas for the most part will retreat from humans if given the chance. They are highly intelligent nervous snakes that deserve are upmost respect and protection. And before anyone says that I am only saying this because I do not have to life with them, well your wrong. I have lived in India and South Africa, two countries that have huge snake bite problems. I have seen many dangerous snakes in and around my property including black mambas, and I even had a dog get killed by a Russells Viper[ which is imo the most dangerous snake in the world] in India. Yet I still see the need and understand the importance of snakes. I think the work that Thea and her husband are doing is great for both reptile and humans alike, and I pray that their will be a day where anti venom is widely available in swaziland, so that peoples lives can be saved.
Destroy every last one of these dangerous vermin.
Fantastic work by both of you, must say for someone who is supposed to be scared Clifton looks like he is pretty much on the front line there LOL. Well done the both of you.
Shame:Why don’t you grab one of these creatures that you obviously worship and hold it to your face?
On a daily basis…lol
how are the black mambas made how were they discovered. And wat states do they live in?
wat the heck y do you worship them soo much i mean if you wnt to get on then go out and find one then email me back if your not dead alredy from being soooo stupied that that snake is ganna put you in the hospitl
wat the heck y do you worship them soo much i mean if you wnt to get one then go out and find one then email me back if your not dead alredy from being soooo stupied that that snake is ganna put you in the hospitle
Same by your comments it sounds as if you are in Africa and work with snakes including black mambas?
Just watched BLACK MAMBA and it made my skin crawl! Call me Clint Eastwood but instinct tells me if this snake comes into my home I ask my friend Remington for some help! 20 thousand families of snakebite death per year in Africa will agree! Didn’t see one shot of the snake eating rodents or any other pest!
I have been trying not to get involved in this argument.. Almost every day I fight the same fight, try and explain the same thing…The 20 thousand families could NOT SURVIVE without snakes. I work with snakebite victims and families who have lost children. husbands, mothers etc to snakebite and it breaks my heart but I also understand that without snakes the whole cycle of life will be out of balance. Very few snakes eat birds (the film crew were just unlucky and didn’t get a shot of snakes feeding on rodents). Without snakes in the sugarcane, the rats, mice and cane rats would destroy the cane. Without snakes in the maize fields, the crops would be destroyed by rodents and people would starve. More people die every year from bee sting than from snakes, we can not eradicate all the bees!
What we need, is improved medical facilities to deal with snakebite. Dying from a snakebite is totally, totally unnecessary! It’s barbaric what is happening in Africa. All you have to do is compare the stats between your country and mine, have a look at the medical facilities you have available and compare it to mine. Don’t blame the snakes, bees, scorpions, spiders, sharks…they are just doing what they were created to do.
Patrick,
Thea is right. Killing something off is sometimes seen as a simple solution to a complex problem. However, reality is not simple. For example, in Vietnam, people did exactly what you are suggesting: kill off the snakes. The problem is, when people did that, the rat population blew out of control and their rice crop seriously suffered. Guess what they did to solve the rat problem? They reintroduced the snakes.
In the future, don’t be so blase about recommending killing off an entire species to solve a problem. Humans have already caused many species to go extinct and as a result the environment, including us humans, have suffered.