Mamba doesn't mean dance; it means run!

We saw only one snake in South Africa. There are probably more, but only one dashed across the road in front of our car. I like snakes more than most people, but they definitely fall into the "don't try to pet it" category, kind of like baboons.

The mambas, however, are in a category all their own, above and beyond cranky primates. They (green or black -- I'm not sure which one I'm talking about here) are among the deadliest snakes in the world. Snakes are generally not aggressive, and they try to camouflage themselves and slither away first -- attacking is a last resort. I fantasize that the one we saw was a black mamba, running away to avoid having to attack the car, exactly what I would want it to do.

About a month after returning home (U.S.), I was looking for something interesting on TV. The Discovery channel caught my attention, and soon the words "Kruger National Park, South Africa" flashed on the bottom of the screen. Now, since having visited my daughter in South Africa and spending 4 days in Kruger, there are few things that will hold my interest more, so I settled in to watch a story about one of the few people who has survived a mamba bite.

Mambas are very aggressive when disturbed or confronted, and this man suffered a bite on the back of one calf. He was a park ranger or something, so he knew what he had to do to survive, but still it was a frightening story. He used his belt for a tourniquet, walked slowly to his car, and then drove very quickly until he found people who took him to a hospital. He was losing his speech and vision by the time he collapsed in the back seat of someone else's car. The neurotoxic venom of the mamba shuts down a victim's nervous system, and cardiotoxins shut down the heart. This man spent two days in an intensive care unit, paralyzed, on life support. He's fine now, thanks to his quick first aid and the good hospital care he received.

Scientists are trying to figure out why mambas have such deadly venom. They only eat small rodents, but a small scratch from one of their fangs can kill a person. Another fact is that they are the only snakes (I think) that can get two-thirds of their body into a vertical position. They can grow to 9 feet long and can rise up to bite a person's face! After watching this presentation, I was especially glad that the snake we saw (especially if it was a small mamba) was fleeing.

Snakes are wonderful and mysterious creatures, and many people spend years searching for them. I'm generally content to look at them in zoos. I certainly would never seek out one that can run faster and bite deeper than I can.