As a youngster growing up in Woodlands in Durban, I never feared snakes. But that was not the case with the rest of my family. My first snake encounter in our garden was a Brown House Snake and my mother insisted that we killed it. It was an unpleasant experience and the beginning of my fascination with snakes.

Snake encounters were frequent and in virtually every instance the snake was killed. While visiting friends in Blythedale Beach near Stanger we often saw snakes while walking down to the beach and I recall a beautiful adult Green Mamba being cornered in a smallish bush which was set alight, and the snake killed. On a family farm near Ermelo, Rinkhals were killed frequently, and I recall a large male Boomslang being killed in a food storage area on a farm near Stella in Northwest Province.

Over the past 40-odd years I have devoted most of my life to conserving snakes and educating people about them. I have written more than a dozen books with over half a million sold to date, done TV and radio interviews, talks to scholars, scouts, farmers, hunters, garden clubs and medical doctors and have written an endless stream of articles for magazines and newspapers.

Children are not naturally scared of snakes and it is usually a taught fear. In our Kids' Snake Awareness courses, the children gain knowledge about and exposure to snakes and other reptiles.  

Snakes have always suffered from bad press, starting with the snake in the Garden of Eden. There are many other references to snakes in the Bible and people are quick to quote them and interpret such writings as they deem fit. As there are a number of highly venomous snakes all over the world resulting in more than a million people bitten each year and with around 100 000 fatalities, it is understandable that people are quick to develop a dislike for snakes. Many pets, especially dogs, are also often bitten and killed.

What is rather encouraging is to see the changes in attitude over the past 40 years. More and more people are developing an interest in snakes and our Facebook pages Snakes of Southern Africa and African Snakebite Institute now have over 200 000 members each. The ASI App, ASI Snakes (http://bit.ly/snakebiteapp) has been downloaded by more than 160,000 people. Television programs on snakes, though largely staged and often with doubtful information and advice, have become very popular, especially amongst children. There is hope.

Many people are naturally curious of snakes and a little education and awareness can easily change people’s minds. Photo - Luke Kemp

But a fear of snakes is often real and something that we frequently deal with. Many people fear snakes, do not like them or will avoid them if possible. There are also a selection of myths and superstitions about snakes that cause people to fear them. But then there are those that have a phobia, referred to as ophiophobia. These people have an absolute fear of snakes and cannot even look at a snake on television, in a book or magazine. While a large percentage of people have a fear of snakes, there are very few with a phobia.

Phobias are an extreme fear and are often treated as an anxiety disorder. The fear that such people have is out of proportion to the danger posed and may negatively impact on their lifestyle. While it is generally said that such phobias are learnt from relatives and friends, it may be far more complex. Some people are genetically predisposed to phobias while others develop snake phobias from traumatic experiences where they have negative encounters with snakes.

People with ophiophobia often experience what is described as a ‘panic attack’ – excessive sweating, nausea, difficulty breathing and a tight chest, an increased heart rate and even diarrhoea. 

Coping with ophiophobia is not easy and treating it even more difficult. We have a number of people who contact us for advice and the best treatment is very slow and low-level exposure to snakes. I have dealt with people where I get them to draw a small piece of rope, then a curved rope and eventually a snake-shaped rope. Then I slowly get them to draw a snake as one would a stick man and we slowly progress from there. We encourage people to attend our snake awareness course during which they learn a great deal about snakes, their behaviour and how little a threat they pose to most people. But it is never easy, and some people may drive halfway to the course and make a U-turn.

Overcoming a fear of snakes on our Snake Awareness and Venomous Snake Handling Course. 

Knowledge is key and we find the more people become aware of snakes, the less they fear them. It is amazing to watch people on our snake courses who start the morning scared of snakes and leave with a healthy respect for them. They conquer their fear and can safely remove a snake and release it away from harmful situations.