Kenya has 126 snake species yet most people will probably never see a single one of these elusive reptiles in their entire life! We shall profile 5 of Africa’s most dangerous snakes found in Kenya – the so-called Big Five snakes.
Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
The Black Mamba’s reputation as one of Africa’s most dangerous snakes is unquestionable. This snake evokes fear in East, Central and Southern Africa where it thrives. Its aggressiveness when cornered is legendary. The Black Mamba can reach speeds of up to 20 KMH (12 MPH). It is the largest venomous snake in Africa with adults reaching an average of 2.5 M (8 F) in length.
Black Mamba’s are not black at all, but brown/olive-skinned. Their mouths are inky black which they show when threatened. Black Mambas live in Savannah, scrub, tree hollows, and sometimes people’s homes.
If a Black Mamba encounters prey it can strike up to 12 times, each time delivering enough neuro and cardio-toxic venom to kill a dozen men within an hour. Without anti-venom, the mortality rate is 100%.
Puff Adder (Bitis arietans)
The Puff Adder earns its place as Africa’s deadliest snake because it is responsible for the most human fatalities. Puff Adders have a solid build with a wide girth. They can reach an average length of around one metre.
Colour patterns vary depending on where they live. Their habitats extend throughout Africa except for dense rain forests and deserts.
The Puff Adder has large fangs and its venom is powerful enough to kill a grown man with a single bite. Puff Adders rely on camouflage for protection and lie still if approached. Because of this, people tend to step on them and get bitten. Many fatalities occur because bites are not treated correctly, leading to infection and gangrene.
Boomslang (Dispholidus typus)
The Boomslang is an extraordinarily dangerous tree-dwelling snake found in sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, its name in Afrikaans means ‘tree snake’. Females are brown and males are light green with black highlights.
The Boomslang can reach an average length of 1.5 M (5 F). Human fatalities are rare since this snake is very timid but spectacular. Its venom, which it delivers through its fangs located at the back of its head, is haemotoxic, which means that it affects the body’s natural blood-clotting mechanism resulting in the bleeding of the internal organs.
Sometimes it can take as long as 24 hours before the symptoms of the venom can be felt or seen. Once it gets to work however, a person can bleed to death from every orifice.
African Rock Python (Python sebae)
The African Rock Python is the largest snake found on the African continent and the third-largest in the world. It grows up to 6.5 M (25 F) long and can weigh in at over 90 KG (200 LBS). The African Rock Python feeds on gazelle, birds, rodents, lizards, warthog, baby crocodiles and anything else in that size range that it is able to ambush.
The snake is non-venomous but that does not make it any less of a dangerous snake. It relies on stealth to get close and then latches onto prey with its teeth to coil around the victim’s body to prevent escape. Attacks on man are rare because humans are outside the normal size range for prey.
After a large meal, the snake will take a week or more to digest the contents of its stomach and at this time, it is very vulnerable to other predators because it becomes very lethargic and less mobile.
Cobra
Kenya has 4 Cobra species, the Black-Necked Spitting Cobra, the Red Spitting Cobra, Egyptian and Forest Cobra. For a long time, the African Black Spitting Cobra (Naja nigricollis) was Africa’s largest Cobra. It reached a length of h up to 7 feet in length.
But now the title of the world’s largest spitting cobra currently rests with the Large Brown Spitting Cobra (Naja ashei). Naja ashei, discovered recently in Kenya, measures an amazing 15 feet.
This predator feeds primarily on snake and rodents. As is the case with all cobras the female lays the eggs. One clutch per year is deposited in rotting vegetation. 75-80 days is the average incubation time for this species.
Monitor lizards, as well as other predators, exert a heavy toll on the eggs in the nest but baby cobras possess powerful venom to protect themselves.
The cobra can kill its first meal at birth which it does not, however, consume for almost a week while it completes absorbing nutrients from the egg.
These five snakes are deadly and feared as much as they are respected – the Big Five of Africa’s most dangerous snakes.
Thank you for sharing with us.
I would like to know the kind of snakes one is likely to come across in Nanyuki.
A neighbor (Sweet-waters) killed one he found in his chicken coop. He described it as big and black.
Hello Joseph and thanks for stopping by. A possible candidate fitting your description might be the Cape wolf snake (Lycophidion capense). This species is docile and harmless and tends to be confused with the very venomous stiletto snake found in coastal Kenya.
I stay in Donholm, Nairobi. There are instances, like today when I’ll find a snake in the house (approximately 1-meter black snake with grey belly, how poisonous are these snakes? Should I keep anti-venom in the house?).
Thank you Moses for stopping by. It is quite tricky to tell a venomous snake from a non-venomous one but these few indicators might help.
Colouring
Venomous snakes have a banded pattern of yellow, brown, and black on their scales. Some non-venomous types also spot the same colours as camouflage though!
Head
Venomous snakes have a more triangular-shaped head while non-venomous ones have a rounded head. However, some non-venomous snakes can mimic the triangular shape of non-venomous snakes by flattening their heads. This makes them appear more dangerous to potential predators but they are not. Venomous snakes possess pits (or holes) on their snouts which allow them to detect infrared radiation from prey.
Pupils
Like a cat’s eye, poisonous snakes have thin, black, vertical pupils surrounded by a yellow-green eyeball while non-venomous snakes have rounded pupils. Unfortunately, you need to be quite close to the snake to see this which may already be too dangerous for you.
As to whether you can keep anti-venom in the house, the answer is it is not advisable because of its mode of administration. Anti-venoms are normally administered intravenously through IV or injection which by itself requires some level of knowledge of the human anatomy to avoid tissue or muscle damage. The anti-venoms themselves are either monospecific which means they treat a specific type of bite, or polyspecific (those that treat bites from a number of snakes found in a particular geographic region). There is no need to keep a monospecific anti-venom unless your area has a specific species of snake.
Thanks for the information. I have learnt.
You are welcome.
Most of the photos you have are misidentified. Your first snake is an Australian Red-bellied Blacksnake. Your “black mamba” is one of the Cobras, maybe Egyptian Cobra. Your “cobra” photos is one of the South American Treeboa species, probably Corallus ruschenbergi.
Hi Chris. That is most unfortunate. We thought we had this down to a science! We certainly give the photos a third eye. Do you have photos of them by any chance you might be willing to share?
Very informative, short but well written and good facts. Thank you.
Thank you very much Tony and thanks for stopping by. We are soon launching our digital magazine which will carry periodic compilation of the latest updates from our blog posts and many more. You can subscribe by following this link.
Nice article.Useful information.
Thank you. We hope you will keep coming back for more.