The Black Mamba

Road where I saw the mamba

1.      I was returning from Rundu with Sam, the volunteer I would be replacing. We had gotten a hike from a man with a nice car with AC. He told us that he had been driving from Walvis Bay and would keep going until he reached Zimbabwe (I believe close to a 20 hour drive). He seemed well prepared as he had house music on full blast while enjoying a Red Bull. In other cases I would have asked him if he could have dropped us off at the village rather than the tar road but due to the amount he still had left to drive I didn’t bother asking. Sam and I were laden with our groceries and the seven kilometer walk to the village was going to be a struggle. About twenty minutes in Sam spotted a snake crossing the road ahead of us. We approached to about 15 meters away from it and Sam stopped dead and said, “That is a black mamba.” The mamba was about two and a half meters long and instead of moving in a zig zag pattern common to most snakes it slithered in a straight determined line. It was a strange site as it looked oddly stretched out when you see most snakes coiled. About ¾ of his way across the road the mamba perks his head up and stared at us for a second. At this point Sam and I were ready to drop everything and run for our lives. Mambas are supposed to be the fastest snakes in the world and are even able to jump. Even from 15 meters away the threat of the mamba was clear. Its stare only lasted for a second and it kept going on its way. We waited a minute then kept walking with our eyes peeled for where the mamba had gone into the bush. Luckily he was not interested enough in us and had already disappeared into the foliage. We kept walking home and lucked out when we saw our principle’s car and got a ride with him back to school back rather then walk the last half an hour back home.