Our Take On Snakes

Caravan & Outdoor Life joins some of South Africa’s leading herpetologists in the Maputaland region to find rare species and teach the local rural residents how to react to snakes. With Opposite Lock on board, we’re all set to strike at a moment’s notice…

- Richard van Ryneveld

I was damn glad that tonight we were looking for frogs and aquatic stuff in a croaking and groaning swamp, rather than rare snakes! I knew my companions would go ape if they found a deadly twig snake or mamba but, for now, I was happy the hunt was on for other goggas. I had met medical doctor Colin Tilbury that evening, just before heading out to the mud hole. Johan Marais, the Snake Man, whispered in my ear: “Colin is probably the world’s best authority on chameleons.” We were heading back at quite a lick towards our camp, Gugulesizwe. Colin Tilbury, sitting behind me, kept saying rather loudly, “Chameleon… chameleon… chameleon.” I couldn’t help but ask: “What bloody chameleon?”

In reply, Colin asked our campsite head ranger, Mbongeni Myeni (MB for short), to reverse back 200 metres or so. Colin hopped out and reached out to a bush next to the road. It was a chameleon all right. I tested him a few more times on the way back to our comfortable camp that night. How he saw them in the bush from a moving vehicle was beyond me. But this snake adventure trip was to reveal a lot more surprises over the week that we spent high up on the coast, near the Mozambique border.

Confused? I bet. This was a 4x4 adventure sponsored by Opposite Lock Johannesburg, Hi-Range City Botswana, and the Gugulesizwe Camp in Northern Maputaland up near the Mozambique border.