A massive black mamba snake was caught hiding inside a gas braai, in Westville North, Durban, on Thursday.

Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans says history was repeating itself as on the same day last year, he removed a black mamba inside a braai at a Durban home.

Evans said he was contacted by the Mobi-Claw911 on Thursday about a black mamba in a braai area in the Dawncliffe area of Westville at around lunchtime.

When he arrived, he learned that the mamba was in or on a gas braai which had a cover over it.

Evans says the owner had heard the dassies or hyrax making a big noise. He heard movement under the cover of his braai, and upon investigation, discovered the large snake.

“I started lifting the cover up slowly with my tongs, and just above the knobs, was the mamba, looking at me. As you’ll see, its eyes were blue, glazed over, indicating the mamba is about to shed, which does affect their vision, to a degree. Still, they do see movement with ease.”

Evans adds that he caught a brief glimpse of a young dassie under there, but it ran away.

“Snakes don’t usually hunt while in the shedding process. That was one lucky dassie. As you will then see, the mamba was curled up, resting on the little side table part of the braai. Not a bad place to relax if you’re a snake I suppose. Sheltered and warm.”

He says it wasn’t a difficult capture and the mamba was fairly calm.

“Sometimes those ‘in the blue’ can be the trickiest to catch. I suppose they’re more frightened with their vision not as good as usual. But I also find the big old snakes are a bit more ‘laid back’. And obviously impressive too. Awesome animals to work with.”

Evans says the mamba weighed 2.3kg, which he shares is a good weight.

“I remembered the one inside the braai from last year, so I checked the date, and couldn’t believe that it was a year to the day! Crazy coincidence!”

Watch: Last year’s black mamba in gas braai