| 1 | Peringuey’s adder |
A venomous snake with a small empire, living mainly in the parched Namib desert of Namibia’s south. Peringuey’s adder is adapted to the driest of all conditions and can glide down sand dunes with ease. Their choice of food is limited to others that can cope with deserts, mainly barking geckos and desert lizards (Meroles family).
Though with cunning viertical pupils and an angry appearance, Peringuey’s adder is barely a threat to humans, even when you exclude their remoteness. Their venom is cytotoxic and can cause pain and moderate swelling, but no deaths are confirmed. It’s also very easy to see Peringuey’s adder, at least while moving. Even with their camouflage, you’d have to be blind to miss one sidewinding down a sand dune. They live in wide open spaces, except for when they stray to dry scrubland.
The biggest risk is when they bury themselves up to the eyeballs in sand. Like the Saharan horned viper thousands of miles away, Peringuey’s adders do this to leap on prey unexpectedly, bursting from the desert in a shower of sand particles. This species is called the desert sidewinding adder, because that’s what they do. Peringuey’s adders also have one of the most triangular heads of snakes.
| 2 | Anchieta’s cobra |
A moderately sized cobra which can reach 2.5 metres. Like Anchieta’s python, this species avoids bone dry southern Namibia and sticks to the moister northern areas, crossing the border into Angola. Their territory is relatively small, and few around the world have heard of them, except the most learned museum curator. This suits Anchieta’s cobra just fine, as they’d much rather fly under the radar. They’d much rather slither through dry plains, searching for mammals, with the confident knowledge that nobody is aware of them.
Anchieta’s cobras are lighter than some cobras, with beige and grey intermingling subtly. Lab analysis shows that they possess a strongly neurotoxic venom, with a secondary dose of cardiotoxins. Deaths are rare but confirmed, and local dangers including rotting skin and blistering.
One power Anchieta’s cobra doesn’t have is spitting venom. They vary in appearance, some being purple brown and others having banded patterns. Like most cobras, Anchieta’s cobra isn’t fussy about its diet and will swallow mammals, lizards and other snakes. They’re most closely related to the snouted cobras, yet with an extra dose of aggression. Windhoek, Namibia was the site of the longest Anchieta’s cobra ever measured, a male measuring 2.31 metres.
| 3 | Southwestern shovel snout |
A harmless species averaging at 20-30cm, reaching 44cm at the most. The southwestern shovel snout is strictly a rock dweller. Grassy plains are out of bounds, as are sand dunes. It was first discovered in 1867, and they’re most commonly found after rains. They’re a slow mover, yet a skilful climber.
The Prosynmna family contains 18 snakes, all found in sub-Saharan Africa. This species is much less of a burrower than other members, preferring to hide in dark fissures between surface rocks. However, the signature shovel snout is partially in place, so they’re probably able to burrow if their lives depend on it. People likely to meet this snake include miners, rock collectors, bandits making a campfire, and archaeologists embarking on a dig,
Prosynmna frontalis inhabits a great chunk of Namibia, and a small portion of South Africa over the southern border. Southwestern shovel snouts are completely harmless, non-venomous and with a docile personality. This is a species you can watch all day if you sit still long enough that the snake forgets you’re there. The only thing required is patience.
| 4 | Bug-eyed house snake |
A snake known as Grootooghuisslang locally. Bug-eyed house snakes inhabit northwest South Africa, but have made Namibia their stronghold, occupying the entire western half. This is a nocturnal snake, which has great patience and moves around slowly and deliberately.
Bug-eyed house snakes have a handy ID tip: the banana yellow lines behind their eyes, and encircling the top. As adults, the colours fade in intensity but are still visible. Away from the head, bug-eyed house snakes have virtually no patterns, being a consistent parched clay colour. Though with sharply vertical pupils, the bug-eyed house snake looks far less menacing than a viper. This is borne out by reality, as this is a constrictor which lacks any venom whatsoever.
If the bug-eyed house snake duelled a cobra or black mamba, it would lose without question. However, they have a powerful squeeze for their size, which is 60-100cm. Their eyes are a golden colour while their forked tongue is fleshy pink.
| 5 | Anchieta’s dwarf python |
The true python family (Latin name: python) has 10 members worldwide, and Anchieta’s python is the most obscure. The African rock python got a size headstart long ago, so instead, Anchieta’s python went down the route of camouflage. This species prefers rocky areas within savannahs, and has evolved a corresponding dirty brown base of scales with beige-black blotches. Unlike the rock python’s 7 metres, this species maxes out at just 183cm. Anchieta’s pythons lives in northern Namibia, in the moister regions, and crosses over into Angola.
Anchieta’s pythons can stay still for many days, as they wait for the cards of nature to fall in their favour. They generally eat warm-blooded prey like rodents, and their closest relative is the ball python. However, Anchieta’s pythons are far less common in captivity. They’re rare to begin with, and minefields planted in the Angolan civil war mean that swathes of habitat are too dangerous even for hardened soldiers to venture, let alone amateur reptile collectors. This means that Namibia is a better place to track one down.
Anchieta’s python are no threat to humans, but give a good go at intimidation, with a piercing hiss, which is still an empty threat. This species can be found in small caves and climbing dry savannah trees.
| 6 | Karoo sand snake |
One of the 33-strong Psammophis family, collectively called the sand racers. These snakes are fast and whippy and the Karoo sand snake is no exception. They occupy the entire eastern half of Namibia, and the eastern half of South Africa, showing no interest in trivial borders drawn up by mankind. Karoo sand snakes (Psammophis notostictus) live not in sand deserts, but relatively parched areas covered with dry bushes. They’re a day-faring snake which reaches a maximum of 1 metre, and are most commonly spotted by people crossing roads.
The Karoo sand snake has a long flexible tail. As they dart between bushes at high speeds, they’re always swishing it through the air, using it to gain superior balance. In fact, they sometimes swish their tail right off. This species is confirmed to detach its tail at opportune moments, chiefly when in the clutches of a bird predator.
The tail distracts the bird, and the Karoo sand snake vanishes into the thorny depths of its favourite bush. It’s a painful yet effective last ditch survival technique. Not all Psammophis members are confirmed to detach their tails – the hissing sand snake (Psammophis sibilans) is another.
| 7 | Dwarf beaked snake |
This harmless species lives in the Namib desert, karoo scrub and arid savannah areas. Within these spots, they’re most common on gravel plains, which their primary lizard prey is also attracted to.
Dwarf beaked snakes are believed to be mimicking their neighbour the horned adder in appearance. This isn’t a pure desert dweller, and its patterns are somewhere inbetween as well. Dwarf beaked snakes have a beige underlying colour to blend effortlessly into shifting sands, but also darker stripes for when they move into dry shrubland. It’s the perfect combination for staying invisible to birds at all times. It’s equally unlikely that conservationists would spot this snake if they flew over the Namib desert in a helicopter. They’d have to get incredibly lucky and train their binoculars on precisely the correct 5 metre parcel of land, and even then they’d have trouble distinguishing it from a low thorny scrub.
This species maxes out at only 50cm. Up close, their eyes look like a distant unlit planet: a round black pupil and a red iris, with a small white line around the pupil. Dwarf beaked snakes live in western South Africa and southern Angola, but Namibia contains their most territory.
| 8 | Angolan coral snake |
A heavily nocturnal snake which is most commonly seen crossing roads, aided by a car’s headlights. This is a species of dry rocky areas away from settlements – hence why Namibia is their base. Angolan coral snakes are venomous and a severe danger to mankind if you’re lucky enough to step on one, or park your car halfway through a long journey and rest at night directly next to where they live.
Angolan coral snakes have highly variable colours. Some such as above are black against pale grey, which darkens towards the head, which is fully black. Others have pale chest bands which are clearly mimicking a cobra. Angolan coral snakes even rear up and flare their necks to complete the mimicry.
That said, they have plenty of real weapons: a neurotoxic venom which is poorly researched, yet has caused several deaths. The bite is especially painful, and unlike black mambas, no antivenom exists yet. Their strike is also similar to a cobra, with a piercing hiss and repeated lunges. Angolan coral snakes are much more aggressive than coral snakes of the Americas. They’re also less fabulously colourful, proving that they mean business.
| 9 | Karoo tiger snake |
A close relative of the eastern tiger snake which roams South Africa (neither are related to Australia’s tiger snakes). This is a mostly harmless species, with round eyes and only two colours. Karoo tiger snakes measure 40-60cm and prefer rocky arid regions, being restricted to the southern half of Namibia.
Karoo tiger snakes are common where they live, and as usual in these sparsely populated parts, are mainly sighted when crossing roads. Like most snakes, their eyesight isn’t great, but a few meters away, they’ll sense your presence and start hissing aggressively, while drawing their head back and hanging their mouth open.
Karoo tiger snakes are fully a separate species from their cousin, even though their rich yellow and black shades are virtually identical. The difference is the size of the blotches. In Karoo sand snakes, they’re rounded and fuller, whereas in eastern tiger snakes they’re sometimes so thin they become stripes. Exactly why this evolved is a mystery. They may be no reason – the Karoo desert colony may have headed north 1 million years ago, and any two species which are separated for eons will naturally develop differences, even if there’s no motivation.
| 10 | Schinz’s beaked blind snake |
There are many blind snakes globally, humble tunnel lovers which stick to underground chambers and have poor eyesight. However, this Namibian species has a difference, something that no human could dream of – a beak. Schinz’s beaked blind snakes live in arid regions of southern Namibia, and spend most of their lives below the surface. However, they come to the surface occasionally, where locals encounter them on roads. Being out of their element on the surface, they wriggle furiously when caught.
Like most blind snakes, their scales are incredibly smooth, so smooth that they seem to be naked like an earthworm. The purpose is gliding through underground dirt tunnels effortlessly, without getting stuck. A black mamba would be coughing and spluttering constantly if it went where Rhinotyphlops schinzi did.
Schinz’s beaked blind snake feeds on tiny ants and ant pupae. Little research has been conducted on its signature beak, but we have an educated guess: that the downward pointing beak is for scraping loose dirt away and uncovering its small insect prey.