Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Black Mamba Question.

I have only had one encounter with what I thought was a common snake of some sort at the time. I was riding in the back of a toyota truck with my PH. The land owner was driving the truck, chasing after a herd of white-blesbok.

This went on for 40 minutes or more, trying to get close enought to put a stalk on this particular herd. I got a little antsy as the sun was about 30 minutes from going down. I told the PH to stop the truck. He told the driver to hold up. I stated I could get the job done on the blesbok by just walking the 1/2 mile or so on foot. PH said not a good idea! I said: Well I am going to do so. I grabbed my rifle off the rack and proceeded to climb down out of the back of the truck.

The PH grabbed me by the arm and pointed to the long snake making it's way in the field. I do remember that we passed several big termite hills just prior to stopping. This snake was like 35 feet going away from the truck. There was not much grass on the ground either, just a reddish tint to the soil. The snake must have been every bit of 12 or 13 feet long, with a silvery color on the whole of it's body. I saw NO BLACK anywhere! I got a lesson taught to me that day.....this was an adult BLACK MABA I was told. It seems the only black on them is inside their mouth. The opposite of a Cotton Mouth but black as the ace of spades I was told. Later I got to view a picture of such a snake......blacker than coal.
I dare say I stayed in the truck.