Two incidents come to mind...Last year a Mamba struck one of Pierre van Tonders trackers as they drove down the road. He was riding on the bumper and it hit him between the shoulder blades, but didn't penetrate the skin, hung up in his coat and spewed poison all over it..pretty scary, and he was fit to be tied while the camp staff made fun of him! They really thought it was funny...
About 5 or so years ago in Tanzania, I got out of the bakki and ran out and shot a Hartebeest for meat, I heard yelling and looked behind me and a Mamba was reared up and coming at me from about 25 feet and closing fast. PH H.M. shot at him and one of the buck shot hit a tree about an inch from my face, needless to say I took off like a rocket. He killed the snake with another shot..They tell me a man cannot outrun a Mamba but I doubt that, I did. A scared man is pretty swift, and I was about as afraid of the PH as I was the snake to tell the truth..I was not a happy camper that day. The PH only had one good eye, and a deadly fear of snakes, and he was short on experience. A good guy but lacking in judgment at the time. I never booked a hunt for him based on that experience and several other incidents.
In all the years I have hunted Africa that is the only close call I have had with a snake and actually I have seen very few black or green Mambas over the years.
