Durban – A live-in Reservoir Hills gardener heard something move between the walls of a room on Sunday night and soon discovered a black mamba next to him.
Local snake rescuer Nick Evans said the room, which had no lights, was joined to another room and was used as a storage area.
“As he walked through the doorway, he heard something move to his right between the walls. Right next to him was a black mamba,” he said.
Evans said that while the snake had the opportunity to bite the man, it did not.
“It (the mamba) got as much of a fright as he did! He bolted out of the room,” he said.
Evans said there were many places for the mamba to hide. However, as he walked into the second room he heard movement above him.
“The mamba was in the roof and it was active! It made so much noise that I thought/hoped there were two,” he said.
He said the snake was on the ceiling board and he could not access the area as there was corrugated iron above that.
The only thing to do was break the ceiling board, he said.
“I broke a hole, and the noise stopped. I couldn’t see it either. I had a family member in the next room, as well as the gardener, who were both willing to help. We were all a little concerned as to where this snake might be.
“I looked in the wall, from the doorway, and spotted the mamba inside, about 2m in. I broke a hole in the wall to get at it. I got the tail, the rest of the body was going up into the wall somewhere,” Evans said.
After repeatedly breaking the wall, Evans said his “assistants” saw the mamba’s head in the doorway coming out of the wall.
“While holding on to the tail with my left hand, I went about grabbing the mamba behind the head, with my tongs in my right hand. When I felt I had a decent grip, I released the tail, and got my left hand on the head, securing it,” he said.
Evans said the rest of the mamba came out and he was relieved as it had been a difficult rescue.
“The mamba is a female, and so I warned them that there is a chance a male or two might visit, due to it being the mating season,” he added.