Black Mamba, White Witch Natural World

It's Friday night at a hotel in Swaziland.

CHATTERING

Thea Litschka-Cohen is a devoted wife and mother with a full-time job.

But she has another love in her life.

PHONE RINGS

Thea! Thea...

OK, I'm on my way. Black Mamba. Black Mamba.

It's Africa's deadliest snake, the Black Mamba.

During the long hot African summer, it turns up in the most unlikely and unwanted places.

People kill mambas here.

But if you are close enough to kill a mamba, it is usually close enough to kill you.

Snakebite in Africa is reaching epidemic proportions,

and Thea and her husband, Clifton,

are trying to relieve this crisis in Swaziland to save both snake and human lives.

Out of control.

-Whoa!

-Jesus!

-Whoa!

Thea is affectionately known by the locals as the White Witch.

She is determined to change attitudes based on centuries of fear and superstition

towards the most infamous and lethal snake in Africa.

We should actually have that kiss before we go in. It could be the last one.

The Black Mamba is a snake

with a notorious reputation for being furious,

fast and deadly.

Long and slender, it can grow to four metres, and strong enough

to raise a third of its body above the ground and look you in the eye.

An iconic predator, it is terrifying and yet fascinating.

Mambas, they are elegant.

The way they move, the way they hunt, the way they behave,

there is no other snake that can touch a mamba.

Just the way it looks at you, you can almost see the intelligence in their eyes.

And they are inquisitive, believe it or not.

This is a snake with attitude.

It is more likely to strike than any other snake.

Its bite is known as the "kiss of death".

Swaziland is one of the smallest countries in Africa.

The size of Wales, it is a land-locked kingdom, between Mozambique and South Africa.

Despite the encroaching agriculture, Black Mambas are doing well here.

They come to prey on small mammals and reptiles.

But there's nowhere they won't go.

October is the end of spring in Africa.

Temperatures are soaring, and it's the beginning of snake season.

Five months of chaos, when people and mambas come head to head.

Thea and Clifton have been called out by police to a remote village, Ngomani.

We go out 24 hours. It's like a doctor being on call.

And very often we've gone out four times a night, especially November to February.

-Who saw the snake?

-He saw it. It's right there.

Thea and Clifton are the only people in Swaziland

who will go out and rescue mambas and other venomous snakes.

Unfortunately, the dogs have already been bitten.

-Can you see the head?

-Yeah.

-Where is it?

-It's right there.

-Oh, it's right there. Oh, it's gaping.

They are both dicing with death.

If the mamba bites them now, medical help in Swaziland probably won't save them.

-I'm letting him go.

-OK.

-Got him.

-OK.

-Don't pull.

-I'm not pulling.

OK.

Good one.

Wait, wait, wait.

Your dogs, I've looked at them, they're not going to survive.

So even if we take them to the clinic now, to the vet, we won't be able to save them.

Very often the people that get bitten by the snake is people who is trying to kill it.

I have a mixed reaction from the locals.

They call me the Mother of Snakes.

Some are convinced I'm a white witch!

For Thea, being called a white witch is a compliment,

as the Swazis believe any woman brave enough to handle a mamba must have special powers.

Kissy, kissy, kissy. Well done.

Thea and Clifton Litschka-Cohen look after a hotel, a family and an orphaned wart hog.

They were both born in Africa, and Thea's family have lived here in Swaziland for three generations.

PHONE RINGS

-Hi, babe.

-Hi.

I thought we had the mobile number.

It's not important right now.

There's a lot of pig happening there.

-I just heard...

-SHE MAKES TWITCHING NOISES

Thea has always loved animals, but she couldn't have foreseen the path her life would take.

It all started with one of her sons.

Oliver my son had a school project, and he came home very excited.

They were allowed to choose a subject and he choose snakes as his project.

Thea went off to town and bought him a little corn snake.

And then a week later she felt that this corn snake was lonely so she bought another one.

We went on the internet and did a lot of research, and I became

more and more interested in what I was reading, I was fascinated.

It was a few weeks after that I think, if I'm not mistaken,

we ended up in Jo'burg where Thea was doing a handling and ID course.

So I thought, you know, in for a penny, in for a pound, so I did this mamba handling course.

And that's really how the snake park started.

Thank goodness Oliver didn't come home with a project on gorillas!

As Thea's passion for snakes grew, she quickly realised just how many people were being killed or maimed.

She felt compelled to do something about it, both to help the snakes and the people they threaten.

The reptile park was set up as a home for some of the rescued snakes

and, equally importantly, as a centre for education.

It is situated in a local nature reserve.

It is the only reptile park in Swaziland.

We are very proud of what we have managed to achieve in the few years that we've been running.

Many of the mambas and other snakes they rescued are released here and in other reserves.

Releasing them back in to the wild seems like a good idea,

but do they simply return to the areas where they used to live?

Or indeed do they survive the translocation?

Thea would like to find out.

She wants to initiate the first ever study to radio track Black Mambas in the wild.

I want you guys to help me hold the body still, hey. Hold it.

Their two sons, Nathan and Oliver, help their mum with the snake park.

And Philane is the first Swazi they have trained in handling Africa's deadliest snakes.

Oliver, bring that tweezer there for me, please.

We have to take the ticks off. It's very important for their well-being.

Ticks can transmit all sorts of diseases.

It's mid-October, and the beginning of the long hot snake season.

As the heat builds before the rains, snakes are on the move.

After a winter of inactivity, they are hungry.

And this is where many of them come to find their prey.

In mile upon mile of sugar cane.

These are some of the largest cane estates in the southern hemisphere.

The hot humid climate here makes it perfect for the sugar.

And perfect for snakes.

The big African savannas and larger wildlife may have diminished,

but the rodents, reptiles and amphibians have thrived in the cane.

Stretched out at waist height, a mamba will spend daylight hours basking here.

It's colour is not black, but olive grey.

The Black Mamba is named after the black inside its mouth.

Its light underbelly helps it disappear against the bright sky.

With large eyes, they have better sight than most snakes.

Sudden movements will cause them to strike with deadly accuracy.

Black mamba venom will kill a person in a couple of hours.

Its smells an intruder approaching by using its long, forked tongue.

CHATTERING

Thousands of workers have to enter the cane to weed the channels.

In a dense habitat like this a mamba will not sense intruders until they're almost upon it.

Two snakes have been spotted by the workers cultivating the cane.

Until they are found, work will stop.

Are you positive that it's a black mamba?

Thea may love snakes, but her husband, Clifton, is scared of them,

yet he still goes along to help.

-How big was the snake?

-It was a huge one.

-Huge. And explain the colour for me.

It was light grey on the underpart, and then a bit darker on top.

Are we going to have a quick look just to see if we can still find it?

Just be careful, this undergrowth is very thick.

Yeah, it's very dangerous. This is suicidal.

Listen, I think this is too unsafe.

-If they've seen three in here...

-No, it's not safe enough to walk in.

You might see it again. Call us immediately and keep an eye on it,

but don't let the girls come and have a look.

They must be very quiet, then we've got a chance of taking it out.

I don't think we're going to find it here.

The weeders will now leave this field until it's cut.

You look exceptionally attractive in those weeds, I've been trying to get you into knee-highs for years.

But I'm sure you didn't want a size ten.

Early in the season most of the mambas Thea and Clifton rescue are males.

It's the mating season. And when males meet, they fight!

The winner will pin the loser's head to the ground.

The winner claims his reward.

The male inspects the female's body with his tongue.

If mating is successful, the female will lay up to 17 eggs,

usually in a nest underground or in a hollow tree.

They won't hatch until later on in the summer, in about three months' time.

Mambas are having a tough time here.

So much of their wild habitat has been transformed,

forcing them to live alongside people, which can only mean one thing.

-PHONE RINGS

-Hello.

Yes?

'November to February is incredibly busy, with February being the most active.

'It's the warmest month in Swaziland, and that's when it gets crazy.'

Is the snake still there?

Is it in the bedroom? All right.

We're coming now, we're very close. We're looking for your house, hey.

They have already rescued one mamba today, and are on the way to their second call-out.

PHONE RINGS

Room 6?

OK. James, what is it?

Just keep it there, just close the door, we're on our way. OK.

There's another call-out at the club in one of the rooms.

They think it's a Black Mamba as well. They say it's quite a big one.

Watch yourself by the door.

-Can you see anything?

-I can see absolutely squat.

Torch. That would be a good idea. Wait for me, don't do anything.

OK.

PHONE RINGS

Oh, Jesus, there's another one. OK.

Hello? Yeah, I can't talk now, please phone me back.

Please phone me back in ten minutes, thanks.

-Here we go, here we go, here we go.

-What is it?

It's a mamba. Seems like quite a nice one.

No, no, don't, don't, don't, don't.

Can you get that out? I need to lift that.

-Oh... Struck at me, hey.

-Did it?

-Yeah.

-Oh.

-That's not very clever.

-Go, go, take him, take him, take him.

-No!

-Hold him!

He wants to bite. OK, let me take him here.

-It's too dangerous.

-We can put him on the carpet.

-No. Take him out.

It's too crowded in here.

-Lifting him, lifting him.

-OK.

-Got him?

He's going to roll. He's twisting.

Come on, boy, we're going to hurt you.

I'm letting him roll.

It's too dangerous to touch the mamba until it stops twisting.

-He's cross. I've got him, I've got him.

-You've got him?

A very cross boy.

I'm sorry.

I'm shaking, just a second.

'I don't think that I do it for the adrenalin kick,

'not that I don't feel the adrenalin rush after I have caught a black mamba, or any other venomous snake.'

My heart's going boom boom!

'But I don't do it for that reason, I do it because people need you, and it's very difficult to say no.'

-OK, one, two, three, go.

-One, two, three, go.

OK, let's run this over.

There is no option here, we have to do it, there is nobody else to do it.

They used to rely a lot on the Royal Swaziland Police,

but they were terrified themselves, and they would just go and actually destroy the snake, they'd shoot it.

PHONE RINGS

Hello.

Oh, OK, sorry, I just need a couple of minutes.

I'll phone you back as soon as I can.

We're a bit busy at the moment.

Sorry, just a few minutes, hey. Sorry. Thanks, though, bye.

Don't panic.

Rule number two.

Don't panic.

We are at one of the rooms at the club,

which we manage, and they've seen a snake inside the room itself.

The maid spotted a mamba whilst cleaning one of the guest rooms.

I think it's in the bedroom now.

-Did you see it when you went in there?

-Yes.

-OK, all right.

-Check the pantry!

-Just going to take a peek again.

-What's the guys' name who stays here?

-Is the air conditioning on?

-Yeah.

Ah, that's going to make it easier.

Somewhere in this bedroom, taking refuge from the heat, is a two-metre Black Mamba.

-You can't see anything?

-No.

-Are you ready?

-Yeah.

OK.

One, two, three.

-No.

-No. I'm just going to open the door quickly.

-OK.

We're running out of options.

-Yeah.

-Whooah!

-Jesus!

-Whoa!

-That's big.

-Hello!

OK, Clifton, it's seen us!

OK, wait.

Pull it a bit more.

-You ready?

-Yeah.

-Do it slowly, yeah.

-Pull.

Got him. Yeah.

-Sweet.

-It's not that big. OK, take him, take him.

-Got him.

He's got a lot more of me than what I should have.

-Got him?

-OK, OK.

-OK, have you got him?

I'm watching, watching his head, watching his head. Sweet!

Sweet. Sweet.

I'm out of control!

It's cool! It's cool. OK, I've got it.

OK.

Be very careful.

-Have you got?

-I've got.

-Firm?

-Firm.

-OK.

-OK.

-Right. One, two, three...

-Oh, look, look.

-Wait.

-Fangs through the bag.

Did you see the venom shoot out there?

OK. One, two, three, go.

OK. Do we tell this guy we found a snake in his room?

He'll probably pack up and leave.

-It's not good for business.

-No, it's not good for business.

Don't call again!

Today it's been non-stop.

They've rescued three mambas, and they're on their way to yet another call-out.

We have had four call outs today, three successful, we're on our fourth.

Apparently it's a Black Mamba, in a house, at section 17. We're off to go and see if we can catch it.

HORN BEEPS

Although Thea's passion for snakes was instant, Clifton took a little longer to join in.

Clifton didn't help in the beginning. He's very afraid.

He would come and he would drive, but he would never help me catch.

But when Thea tore some ligaments in her ankle on a camping trip, Clifton had to step in.

Snakes are obviously not my thing.

But I think when it comes to Thea going out and catching venomous snakes,

I think most husbands will try and be first in line to make sure everything is safe.

He caught 14 mambas within the first nine days, and it was baptism by fire, absolutely!

He's always with me now, and we trust each other,

we've got a good relationship when we go out and catch snakes, and we work well together as a team.

I can smell him.

I can smell the mamba.

Mamba poo has a unique smell, just like curry powder!

-Big one or small one?

-No, he's not big.

Small? They're the worst ones.

OK, he's moving.

-Have you got him?

-Yeah.

I've got him.

Put him here.

Hold it this way.

-Put him on the floor.

-Don't let him go.

Have you got him?

EXCITED CHATTERING

All right, it is a Black Mamba.

You see it's not black, it's grey.

It's called a Black Mamba because the mouth inside is black. Do you want to touch it?

NERVOUS LAUGHTER

-Softly, softly.

-Touch softly.

-And the tails don't bite?

-No, absolutely not.

'Once we've caught the snake, we are normally bombarded with questions,

'and we can actually educate as many people that way as possible.'

Safe!

'Very often when we go and we remove a problematic mamba,

'the first thing they say to me, "Are they going to come back?"

'And I never know what to say because I don't know. We don't know the home range of a mamba.'

-These questions have spurred Thea to come up with a plan.

-Thank you.

If she puts radio transmitters into these mambas and tracks them in the wild,

she will be able to gain new insights into this elusive snake.

This process is known as telemetry.

If she can find out what Black Mambas do,

she may be able to reassure the locals that they won't come back.

She also hopes to find out whether the snakes she releases

survive relocation, or is all their work in vain?

RADIO PLAYS

It's early February, and they've now rescued enough mambas to get their telemetry project underway.

To help them, an expert is joining them.

Professor Graham Alexander has come from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

He has tracked pythons and cobras before, so when it comes to following snakes, he's their man.

-Hi, how do you do?

-You must be Thea. Hi, I'm Graham.

-Nice to meet you.

-I'm Clifton.

-Hi, Clifton, pleased to meet you too.

-Thank you for coming down.

You're welcome, this is an exciting project.

I brought a whole anaesthesia machine down with oxygen, the whole works,

so we shouldn't have any problems with the operation.

It's the day of the operations.

They have a vet and a team of handlers to safely implant the radio transmitters.

There you go, that's straight down, I can feel it going down.

Anaesthetizing a Black Mamba is an unusual and tricky task for even the most experienced vet!

They use the same gas as for human operations, and it's administered through the snake's breathing tube.

-How long should this take?

-It varies tremendously from one individual to the other, even within one species.

So we'll just have to see how it goes. This was a learning curve for me too.

-It's starting to...

-Starting to relax, yes.

That's good. So the next thing we need to do is we need to establish where the heart of the animal is.

There it is. See, there's the heart there.

Put an H there just so we know what it means.

No small helicopter's going to land here!

-That's looking good.

-OK, this is history in the making.

I'm going to start cutting.

-Any reaction there?

-Uh-uh.

The transmitters are small and fit easily in to the snake's body cavity.

There we go, it's sliding in.

Now I've got to, before I stitch it up, put the antenna under the skin.

OK.

It's an obvious species to do a study on

because they have such a reputation, they're perceived as being so dangerous,

we know just about nothing about them, they're big enough to take the transmitters,

so it's surprising it hasn't been done before, it really is.

Stitching is finished.

Finished. Well done.

There we go.

So the next bunch are ready to go.

Oh, it's already flickering it's tongue, perfect.

There we go.

Mind your fingers.

With the first one through the operation successfully, the others follow quickly.

Transmitters have been implanted into four snakes,

all of which will be released in to the reserve around the reptile park.

Two are resident mambas, who come from the reserve.

These will be the control group.

The other two are translocated mambas that have been rescued from houses 100 kilometres away.

They will now be able to follow the daily movements of the two groups, to see how they compare.

Finally, all is complete. The mambas will have a night to recover in the reptile park.

It's an exciting new start, and who knows what secrets they will reveal

when they are released in the morning?

-Good work, well done.

-Well done.

With the telemetry project now underway,

Thea's attention turns to one of her biggest challenges, the way local people deal with snakebites.

The Swazi people are petrified of snakes, absolutely.

The local people, when they get bitten, because of where they are in their homesteads,

they're so far from medical facilities, transport is non-existent,

and it takes them forever to get to medical help.

Due to lack of funding, life-saving anti-venom isn't available here,

so the first option is to turn to the local traditional healer.

They prescribe herbal medicines known as "mooty" to treat snakebite,

made from tree roots and dried-up snakes.

Confidence in these cures is strong.

The majority of Swazis, from farm workers to the Royal family, consult traditional healers.

They rely on the traditional healers and they believe in them,

and I don't think we should disregard what they have to say.

The tongue of a Black Mamba,

-the skin...

-A lot of their treatments really do help.

I'm not so sure about snakebites,

but many of the other herbs that they do use do benefit, it really does.

A Black Mamba bite needs sophisticated medical treatment,

but most Swazis only have access to traditional medicines, so many people die.

There has been a local tragedy. Four days ago,

a 13-year-old girl, Tengetile, was bitten by a Black Mamba.

Her mother, Tuli, took her to the traditional healer.

TRANSLATED: The traditional healer gave Tengetile mooty medicine to drink,

and rubbed the mooty on the bite.

I thought the mooty would help, but after a while, I realised it was not working,

so I looked for transport to get her to the hospital.

They tried everything they could, but they didn't have the right medicine to save her.

They said it was too late

and we mustn't be afraid.

The mamba's neurotoxic venom paralyses.

Breathing becomes impossible and suffocation follows.

Tengetile died, very soon after reaching hospital, just a few hours after being bitten by the mamba.

TRANSLATED: The younger children still don't understand what happened.

Sometimes they call her name, "Tengetile, Tengetile!"

and when I ask them, "Why are you calling Tengetile?"

they say, "Our sister, she has gone to the bush."

Tengetile accidentally trod on the mamba whilst she was playing hide and seek.

The snake was simply trying to defend itself.

As agriculture encroaches on snake habitat,

snakebite fatalities are reaching epidemic proportions worldwide.

Here in Africa it is now thought that more than 20,000 people die every year.

TRANSLATED: I am so scared because I don't know what is going to happen.

Maybe when they are going to collect firewood it can happen again.

I am really not free, I am so scared of the snake.

The day after the vet's operations, and all the snakes are doing well.

It's time to release Thea's mambas into the reserve.

Perfect. That's this tree here, right ahead.

Here.

YELPING

First to be liberated is Twiggy. She is a resident snake,

and they put her back into same tree they found her in, not far from the park headquarters.

There she goes.

I think it's actually trying to get as far away from us as possible.

It hasn't seen sunlight for two weeks.

Next to go is Bugs, another resident, so named because he was captured in a rabbit cage.

He was looking for food, ate three young rabbits, and killed another 12!

Everything's got to eat, but that's just a waste.

They will be able to compare the behaviour of these two resident mambas

with the two translocated mambas who are being relocated at the other end of the reserve.

Situpa, the mamba from room 6 at the hotel, is first to go.

To be followed by Khali who was originally rescued from on top of the kitchen cupboard.

-I think you get impala here.

-Yeah, I think...

-Well, you used to anyway.

There it is. It's looking for somewhere to hide. It's going up.

So much for... the aggressive snakes, huh?

All they're trying to do is get away and survive, like us all.

From now on, these mambas will be radio tracked 24/7.

Their positions will be recorded to see how far they travel, and what they get up to.

In March, the heat is becoming unbearable.

PHONE RINGS

Hello.

We'll be there in about 20 minutes. Can you still see the snake?

No, you just keep an eye on it.

Don't panic, we're going to be there soon as possible.

Call-outs are coming in thick and fast, and now Thea and Clifton have been contacted by the police.

-Can you see it there in the truck?

-He's nice and big, hey?

A driver has abandoned his lorry, because he has seen what he thinks is a mamba.

Just be careful, huh?

It turns out to be a Boomslang, a back-fanged snake,

and although not as aggressive as a mamba, its venom, drop for drop, is more potent.

SHE MUTTERS, FEARFULLY

-See him? Got him?

-Got him.

-Can I see him?

Run, run, run.

-Where is he?

-He's behind that light.

-Can you see?

-Oh, my god.

-He's here.

OK, he's here. We've found him.

-Can you see his head there?

-I've got it right in front of me here.

-What can we take off him?

-Can you see my hand?

-Ooh! Yeah. So can he.

You're going to have to just probe him so he can get out there.

I've got his head here in front of me.

-He's looking at me.

-And me.

-He might even just decide to come down.

-How fast can you get up?

-Can you see where he's going?

-He's gone up into the body, here.

OK, we're going to have to put this down.

He's now in the dashboard.

The problem's just got bigger.

What happened?

It's open, eh?

-Now we're going to catch you.

-All right.

-Anti-climax.

-Ah, there it is.

-There he is.

If you hold this up, we're going to have to...

-Oops.

-Oopsy.

OK, got him.

-Do we know what this is?

-Green Mamba.

No, there's not Green Mambas in Swaziland.

Boomslang. No, you don't have to worry, I've got him, he can't come.

-Is it not that dangerous?

-It is, it's a very dangerous...

This Boomslang is lucky Thea turned up.

It will be released into the wild later today.

Knowing if all the snakes they rescue survive relocation

will be an important outcome of their telemetry study.

Back in the reserve, Thea is concerned that one of her snakes, Khali,

the snake caught on the kitchen cupboard, has not been spotted for a while.

They can get a signal on her, but she is not moving and Thea needs to check whether she is still alive.

She's at the far end of a lake, only accessible by boat.

It's very unusual for them to stay in one area for a month.

-It is. This is why we're a bit concerned, we need to make an effort to find her.

-Yeah.

-I think we're going to have bad news.

-You think so?

-I think so.

I'm hoping to prove you wrong.

Here we go.

-BEEPING

-Can you hear?

Yeah.

There we go, right towards those trees.

BEEPING

-SHE COUNTS THE BEEPS

-Three, four, five...

She's right ahead.

-Is there any land up ahead?

-Not yet, hey.

I think we're going to have to get out and see if we can spot her.

I've got a feeling that you go first because I think it's deep!

Big python, big python.

Where? There it is, there it is. You want to grab it?

-It's going to bite you.

-Was it definitely a python?

-Definitely. A big one too, just here.

-There.

-The python has to be moved out of the way if they're to work around the tree safely.

Oh, beauty.

-Tell me if you need help.

-No, I've done a few pythons in my life.

It's about the only snake I don't like catching, you know that.

That was cool.

You know, Thea, I might actually start buying what you say.

It looks like a snake is actually moving now, but the strongest signal we've got is up the tree.

-She's above us, hey.

-Above us and supposedly there.

I get two areas where there's strong signals, but this seems to be the more consistent one.

There she is, I think I've spotted her.

There she is. Yes, baby!

-And she's alive.

-And she's alive.

I think she's staying here because it's ideal habitat.

Well, I think it's the food source. The food source, it's secluded...

I think she's going for the little weavers.

Certainly there's a lot here and I mean it's really easy picking.

This is excellent. I'm really happy.

-I'm pleased.

-A little row home and a cup of coffee.

-Yeah, it's working well.

Black mambas often live up off the ground and birds are common prey.

They hunt using a combination of active stalking and ambush.

They surreptitiously pursue their prey, using their large eyes to follow movement.

The mamba positions itself, and waits for an opportunity.

Weaver birds build their nests on the ends of the skinniest branches and often over water,

far from reach.

Even a mamba would find this a challenge.

Nonetheless, the mamba has remarkable strength.

Its body is able to stretch across gaps of a metre or more to reach its prey

and move from tree to tree without having to return to the ground.

The weaver birds work together, mobbing the mamba, in a combined effort to drive it off.

The transmitters are not just revealing where the snakes are,

they also give a temperature reading

which shows they move in and out of the sun to keep their body at 30 degrees Celsius,

the optimum temperature to strike.

Tuli and her family have asked for Thea's help.

Tuli is worried that the mamba that killed her daughter has returned.

It's definitely a Black Mamba and it's definitely an active hole.

You can see where it's been moving in and out here.

You can see it's smooth where the snake has gone in.

I've closed up the hole so that it can't go back in there.

Right, well, let's go and look there, see what's there.

This is the first time the family have had the courage to return to where their daughter was bitten.

What do think happened to her shoes?

THEY SPEAK IN SWAZI

Here they are.

SHE WHIMPERS

I think it's just reassurance, just to give them a little bit of something, you know.

They've got nothing so you just try and help where you can.

He just said, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

They wanted the shoes to come home.

It's why we do what we do.

Back at the reserve, Twiggy, one of the resident mambas, has been victim of a freak accident,

not far from the tree where she was released.

-I think you will see.

-Oh, no. Oh, no.

-Was she stuck in the cage or was she half in?

-She was stuck in the cage.

I think it's eaten by the rat.

-They really, really did a good job on her. They ate the whole head.

-That's bad.

So Twiggy's dead.

She was one of my favourites. This is really sad.

She had been hunting rats, got caught in the mesh of their cage, and bitten to death.

With Twiggy gone, just one resident mamba remains - Bugs.

It is vital to Thea and the success of the project that he survives.

Neither of the resident mambas has moved far during the study.

Bugs has also remained very close to where he was released, and as a result is easy to find.

Mostly he hangs out in thick bush around this water hole.

Like most snakes, mambas are good swimmers and they also like a drink in the heat.

Three weeks after his release, Bugs is shedding his skin.

He rubs his head against a rough surface until the skin splits,

wriggling his way out of the old one as he goes.

The eye of a snake can't shut. Instead of an eyelid, they have a transparent scale over the eye,

just like a window.

This scale, like all the others, is shed with the old skin.

Neither of the resident mambas has moved far during the study,

unlike the two relocated mambas.

Situpa, meaning six in Siswati, one of the translocated mambas, was rescued from room 6 in the hotel.

He has moved locations every day in the first few weeks after release.

Sometimes up to 500 metres a day.

He has come dangerously close to the main road on the edge of the nature reserve.

Vehicles are one of the biggest threats to snakes.

Many thousands are killed on roads at this time of year.

Situpa's signal shows her moving towards the sugar cane which surrounds the reserve.

Perhaps the relocated mambas are returning to the habitat they are most familiar with.

Once the mambas have headed into the cane, it becomes harder and more dangerous to track them.

BIRDSONG

CHATTERING

We're going to have a look see.

-This cane really cuts you.

-Mmm.

And this time of the day, if it's going to be anywhere, it's going to be basking about chest height.

The signal's getting stronger, the snake's close, but it's really thick in here.

-It's too dangerous, it's not worth it. Let's call this a day.

-Right.

These are our two residents, Bugs and Twiggy. Unfortunately, Twiggy is no more. She's rest in peace.

The two residents seem to have a smaller area that they're moving in.

Khali, which is the only female in the whole study, seems to have a massive home range.

She's been all over the park.

But she's found a lovely little home here at the dam and for about a month she stayed in this area here.

We don't know much about mambas, it's just an endless amount.

Where do they feed? What do they eat? Do they come home?

There's all sorts of things that we can learn.

I think if we could put three years behind this telemetry study, it will be invaluable,

not just the mambas, but all snakes.

We're going to have to follow these chaps for a while.

Time will tell, but so far it's looking good.

I mean, they're great snakes, they're awesome snakes.

It's like the great white shark of the snake world.

It's early days in the study, but it seems that the relocated mambas travel a lot for a few weeks,

but then find a suitable area with good basking and hunting sites where they settle down.

They don't try to return to where they used to live.

It is all reassuring information that Thea can now communicate to the people who live here.

And to help her do this she needs more Swazis like Philane on her team,

to ease the burden of call-outs and to promote her favourite snake.

CHATTERING

Philane has such a wonderful way with snakes. He is incredibly gentle and he just seems to understand.

Philane is a great role model.

It's very unusual for a Swazi to be out there catching snakes.

I don't think there's too many people that can catch a Black Mamba like Philane can catch it.

SCREAMING

Some of the areas we've been to, we must have had 200 people gathering.

I think it's great entertainment value and I think it's also great education.

Widespread education about snakes is what they are all ultimately striving for.

Inside of the mouth.

THEY SPEAK IN SWAZI

If the people of Swaziland are going to be able to co-exist alongside the deadly Black Mamba,

knowledge on basic first aid for snakebites will be life saving.

Thea and Clifton's work has now been recognized by King Mswati III of Swaziland.

He has given their family some land where they will work with the local community

to build a nature reserve and a health clinic specializing in the treatment of snakebite victims.

It will be the first of its kind in Swaziland.

I think we need to realise that everything is here for a reason.

Snakes are here for a reason, they're not serpents who are put on Earth to punish people.

They play an important role.

They keep the population of rodents down, they're absolutely necessary in our lives.

It's early March.

Mamba eggs are now hatching.

Even as new-borns, these Black Mambas have a bite that can kill a human.

They will feed voraciously and grow-up fast -

from half a metre to two metres in their first year!

They seem to be doing well here, which is even more reason for us to learn to live alongside them.

As summer draws to a close in Swaziland, and the cooler, African winter begins,

the mambas will slow down a bit and are less likely to travel very far.

And Thea and Clifton will get a few months respite, before next summer's snake season begins all over again.

Ah! HE LAUGHS

Piggy, piggy, piggy! Come.

I'll keep going until more people become involved

or until I've removed all the snakes that are problematic.

PHONE RINGS

Hello. Thea.

Say that again.

Don't go anywhere near it, just keep an eye on it and we'll come as quickly as we can.

No, we're leaving straight away. Bye. Let's go.

It's a mamba in somebody's house.

Let's go, let's go.

It would be nice if we could finish a cup of coffee once.

This lady was seriously panicking, apparently it's in her bathroom.

Interestingly enough, the statistics show that in March,

there are more snakebites in March than any other month.

PHONE RINGS Oh, not another one!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd