Snakes of Uganda

Information, Background, Parks and Wildlife Reserves where reptiles such as Nile Crocodile, Snakes, Lizards, Tortoises, Terrapins and Chameleons are found in Uganda.

New Vision Online : Sleeping with snakes at Musambwa

Within an area of five acres and a population of less than 100 people, Musambwa Island on Lake Victoria has more than 2,000 snakes, a ratio of over 20 snakes per person. Residents of the island, located in Rakai district, have learnt to live with snakes, especially cobras. They do not kill snakes and the reptiles do not bite them. When Emmanuel Katongole, 60, had just arrived on Musambwa Island, he woke up one night to find a huge poisonous black cobra under his pillow. He screamed for help, only to be rebuked by neighbours for ‘scaring off good luck’.

Poisonous snakes in Uganda

While snakes are such a rarity to see, and snakes bites are extremely unlikely, snakes do tend to be on the list of concerns of every safari participant.
Among the poisonous snakes of Uganda, the most dangerous species are the puff adder, Gabon viper, black and green mambas, boomslang, and several cobras including the spitting cobra. These snakes account for several hundreds of reported envenomations each year, although the typical victim is hardly a tourist sitting on a safari vehicle.
The best course of actions to avoid dangerous encounters with poisonous snakes is constant awareness. When on foot, always scan the ground in front of and around your path. Never step into an area that you can’t check visually and never, EVER!, put your hands in places that you can’t see. All snakes love to avoid interaction with humans and, if made aware of our presence before feeling threatened or cornered, will retreat unnoticed. Keep your bag zips and tent nets closed at all times, when not in use, and never walk at night around the camp without the aid of bright flashlight.
In the event of an unlikely bite, we will follow a strict Wilderness Pre-Hospital Emergency Care (WPHEC) protocol, treating every snake byte from any potentially poisonous snake, or unidentified snake, as a medical emergency, requiring little to no local treatment, other than regular wound management, and granting immediate evacuation (by air transportation if needed) to the closest western-style medical facility, namely the International Medical Group Hospital in Kampala, the Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar Es Salaam, or the Nairobi Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya.

BBC NEWS snake causes stir in Uganda court