WATCH: Mamba hat-trick for Zululand snake handlers

Zululand snake catchers kept busy, with no fewer than three mambas, black and green, captured

March 10, 2026

Tamlyn Cramer 3 minutes read

Yingisa Mbtse, Nasiphi Ntsinjana, Jeffrey Manzi and Donald 'Mfezi' Schultz with the green mamba caught at Falaza Game Reserve in False Bay on Saturday Photo: Nkosikona Xaba

They say everything happens in threes, and that certainly was the case with mamba catches on Saturday.

Zululand snake handlers were kept busy, with no fewer than three mambas, black and green, captured in various parts of the region.

Robbie ‘Fangs’ Ferreira with the 2.8m feisty female black mamba from Saturday

Empangeni-based snake handler Robbie ‘Fangs’ Ferreira was called out to Mevamhlophe for a black mamba on Saturday morning, which turned out to be an extremely strong and feisty 2.8m female.

“I was called out the previous Saturday by a family who had seen the snake in their home,” said Ferreira. “I looked absolutely everywhere, even cutting open mattresses, but the snake was nowhere to be found.

“This past Saturday, the same family called me again, saying the snake was on the wall in their kitchen. I arrived to find the snake partially on top of the wall and partially in the rafters. She was very strong and put up a good fight, but it was a relatively easy catch in the end.”

Ferreira said she was a healthy snake of about four years old.

He said this was proof that black mambas do not live up to their reputation of being extremely aggressive snakes that chase people to bite them.

“This family had been living with the snake in their home for a week without realising it!” he said.

The Zululand Remedial Centre teacher takes any opportunity he can to educate the public about snakes and their behaviour, and this was no different.

Saturday’s catch followed another black mamba capture the week before for Ferreira, as well as a forest cobra two weeks ago, both in Mevamhlophe.

Peter ‘Daring’ Daniel was also called out to Mevamhlophe on Saturday, also for a black mamba, at the house of a police detective.

Peter ‘Daring’ Daniel caught a 2.2m black mamba in Mevamhlophe on Saturday

“He phoned me and said the snake was in the house, but when I got there, it was outside in a tree,” said Daniel.

“We had to cut the tree down, and then I had to remove the branches one by one. Eventually, the snake came flying out through my legs and I was able to grab it!”

The snake measured 2.2m and was safely released away from human habitation.

Donald ‘Mfezi’ Schultz, a Hluhluwe-based snake handler, broke the black mamba mould on Saturday when he was called out to capture a green mamba in Falaza.

“Mamba season usually comes later in the year, but because of La Nina, everything’s out of whack,” said Schultz, adding that snake catchers have seen an uptick in mamba call-outs, with him responding to seven in the last two weeks.

“A lot of them are around residential areas, and there are businesses in Pongola and Mkhuze that have mambas in their warehouses,” he said.

Speaking about Saturday’s capture, Schultz said green mambas in Hluhluwe are somewhat unusual.

“I was called by Falaza Game Reserve; the snake was apparently there all morning, while they were walking past and doing laundry before they noticed it.

“It was where they grow their vegetables, in a chicken wire fence. So when I grabbed it, it bolted through so I had its tail but its head was on the other side.

“Yingisa Mbetse was the one who initially called me about the snake, and bravely volunteered to gently hold the tail while I went round the other side, grabbed the snake and safely secured it.

“It was a nice big male, just over two metres – which is a big green mamba as they’re about half the size of black mambas,” said Schultz, who released the snake far away from people.