It may look like the mamba is about to bite down on Duncan Slabbert’s other hand but it wasn’t. He said it was just the angle of the photo. His other hand was a safe distance away. Picture: Nick Evans
Durban — You know that phrase “two’s company, three’s a crowd”? Well, that was not the case when trying to get a black mamba around a roof.
On Tuesday morning, snake rescuer Nick Evans said it has been a hot and humid few days in Durban and sometimes, it’s even too hot for the snakes to move during the heat of the day.
So they’re active in the mornings and late afternoons/evenings.
“Last night (Monday), my friend Duncan Slabbert and his daughter Jade had been chasing a mamba around the roof of an outbuilding in Westville. Climbing in a ceiling, on a roof etc, in that heat, while checking for a highly venomous snake, is tiresome,” Evans said.
He said that after a while, without anything but a brief glimpse of the mamba, Slabbert called and asked for another set of eyes.
Evans said that when he arrived, Slabbert was on the roof, taking off tiles, looking understandably exhausted.
“I climbed into the ceiling and started tapping the material under the roof tiles with my tong. With a stroke of luck, I located the mamba. I could see and hear it moving over the material, close to the wall,” Evans said.
He said that Jade bravely took his place in the ceiling, monitoring the movements of the mamba, while he went out to help Slabbert on the roof.
“As I was about to climb on the roof, I noticed I could see clearly under the tiles, and soon spotted the mamba. This worked perfectly in our favour because I could guide Duncan, and tell him which tiles were safe to lift,” Evans said.
“It didn’t take him long to extract the mamba, which was bigger than we had thought. Probably around 2.4m.”
Evans said they were all happy and relieved to finally have the snake, especially Slabbert, who had put in the most effort.
He thanked the family for calling and Slabbert and Jade for their hard work.
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Daily News
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