Durban — A snake catcher on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal had to source a cherry picker in order for him to rescue a green mamba that was on the top of a tree on Wednesday.
South Coast snake catcher Sarel van der Merwe described it as the “catch of the day” after he rescued a green mamba from a tree on a property.
About three weeks ago, he went to the council department, where the old Fire Department used to be, and there was a huge green mamba but it got away.
“Then now, someone phoned me with a private number for a green mamba in a tree. But I ignored the call, because I don’t take private numbers, only from the police.
“I got another call (concerning) a big green mamba in a tree that went from their residence to the neighbour. I believed them so I went there,” Van der Merwe said.
He said that when he reached there he said it was impossible to climb the tree. It was straight up, where no one can climb.
He said that across the road are the council offices and the electricity department.
“As I walked in, Gary (Manggos) walked out of his office and Gary knows me… I said ‘Gary, I need a cherry picker’.”
Van der Merwe said that as they walked out of the building, a cherry picker drove past and they whistled at the driver (Ephraim) and Gary asked the driver to help Van der Merwe.
“And that was a blessing,” he said.
“Then the cherry picker driver refused to take me up because he was scared. Then Gary got into the cherry picker but it was like going for a course and the whole bucket was shaky. I told him he was going to get us both killed and I convinced the cherry picker driver to trust me to take me up and he took me up and we caught it (the snake),” Van der Merwe explained.
He said that it was a nice catch. The snake was inside the residence.
However, he did not think it was the same snake he was called out for a few weeks ago.
“This one looks a bit smaller,” Van der Merwe said.
“It is a female.”
Adding, he said he was hoping to catch a black mamba yesterday (Thursday), but it slithered into the bush.
He said he received a lot of call-outs, including some funny ones.
Daily News