Snakes in Akagera National Park – Snakes act as both predators and prey, with a developed sense of sight, taste, hearing, and touch to locate, recognize, and track their prey.
Once they spot prey, they use their powerful muscular bodies to squeeze the prey to death or go the extra mile and use a lethal dose of venom, which is modified saliva that causes paralysis, weakening the prey and eventually killing it.
Some of the snakes found in Akagera National Park include the herald or red-lipped snake, which is found close to wetlands. It is a very small snake with a broad, obvious head and a short tail. Its back is olive to green-black, while the head is iridescent when the skin is freshly shed. It mostly depends on amphibians for survival during the night hours.
The puff adder is responsible for more bites and fatalities due to its habit of not moving away from footsteps. Instead, it blows out air as a warning to any approaching individual. It is very dangerous as it can feed on other snakes, birds, and rodents. You can identify it by its yellow-brown to light brown body covered with black, pale-edged chevrons.
The rhombic egg-eater swallows eggs whole into the neck region, then cracks them using bony projections below the vertebrae, enabling easy digestion as the eggs move through the body. It is easily identified by its rounded head and short tail.
The black mamba is considered one of the most dangerous species in the snake kingdom. It is swift and named after the black color inside its mouth, while its body is not black. It has highly toxic venom, where only two drops are enough to take a person’s life, and it is said to have more than twenty drops in its fangs.
Similar to the black mamba, there is also the black-necked spitting cobra, which is an opportunistic hunter feeding on birds, frogs, lizards, and other snakes.
The brown house snake is found within the park, with most individuals being medium to dark brown, having a mother-of-pearl belly and two light lines on either side of the head, extending from the nose.
The spotted bush snake, on the other hand, is very slender with a long tail, and its head is green or blue-green. The spotted bush snake is rather harmless to humans as it lacks venom glands.
Snakes are cunning species, so do not hesitate to ask your tour guide to share all the history and facts about snakes.
Please note that you can also spot scorpions (a rare sight) in Akagera National Park.
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