One man’s vow to protect humanity’s worst enemy

Facts and myths about snakes

All through history, snakes have been both good and evil. Here are some historic examples:

• In the Bible, there’s a story of Adam and Eve being tempted by the evil snake. It was the snake (Satan) the tempted Eve with an apple and caused them to be kicked out of the beautiful Garden of Eden. Also in the Bible, Moses, who went to Egypt to convince the Pharaoh to release the Hebrew slaves, turned his staff (walking stick) into a snake to prove God’s power.
• The Ancient Aztecs worshipped the snake. Quetzalcoatl was the “plumed serpent” and was considered the “Master of Life”.
• Aborigines in Australia believed that a giant rainbow serpent was the creator of life.
• Some African cultures worshipped rock pythons and killing a python was a very serious crime.
• Many cultures believed that snakes had medicinal or healing powers.
• And of course, there is the story of St. Patrick who got rid of all the snakes in Ireland. He is celebrated every year on March 17th. Supposedly there are no snakes in Ireland to this day.

What about the stories of snake charmers? Where the charmer plays the flute and the snake slowly comes out of a basket and sways to the music. Since snakes cannot hear sounds that aren’t vibrating on the ground, they can’t hear the flute music. The snake is actually following the motion of the flute and usually the charmer is swaying back and forth as well. The snakes that charmers use are tried out before hand so that they don’t attack the charmer.

Some common snake myths:

• The Death Adder has a sting in its tail.
• Snakes hypnotise their prey.
• Tiger Snakes chase people.
• Snakes milk cows.
• If you kill one of a pair of Tiger Snakes, its mate will hunt you down to take its revenge.
• In Australia, there is a Hoop Snake that takes its tail in its mouth and then goes bowling merrily along.

Even though the human population has hardly given them a chance to survive, ‘Kazibwe the Snakeman’ has sworn to protect reptiles and set up a conservation area to that effect , writes Martin Ssebuyira

The Uganda Reptile Village, which conserves snakes for education and tourism is the first of its kind in Uganda. It is located in Bunono Village, three kilometres off Entebbe Road, at Katabi Sub-county head offices.

The village has extraordinary varieties of reptiles, a cool breeze from the forest and a bird watch facility. The sanctuary Chief Executive Officer, Mr Yasin Kazibwe a.k.a Snakeman has made the snakes his friends and enjoys life with them. While mentioning the word snake can make most people scamper for safety and others rush for sticks, a few people like Kazibwe get offended when a snake is killed.

“For me, killing a snake is like killing my relative,” Kazibwe says. In June 1999 Kazibwe was offered a chance to go to Zimbabwe to horn his skills. He spent the following year in a snake-infested jungle camp receiving specialised skills on how to rescue a snake from human attack and how to handle snakebite victims.

In May 2000 he came back to Uganda and immediately joined a one Musiimenta, who was plying his lucrative snake-export trade. However, their reunion was short-lived as they had a conflict of interest; Kazibwe refused to keep capturing snakes from the forests and swamps for export; he understood that by not breeding the snakes, they would become endangered species.

Kazibwe started to think about his own project, based on the concept of saving reptiles and spreading the knowledge among local people to educate them on how to live peacefully with reptiles and avoid killing them. Between 2003 and 2008, he rescued more than 450 snakes of 38 different species from death.

Kazibwe’s ongoing project requires funding; he has been working hard for years to secure a proper habitat for his beloved animals and to create credibility for his name, demonstrating to people and official organisations that he is not interested in profiting from his project but rather in saving as many snakes as possible.

Any free time away from his permanent job as a tour operator at Wild Frontiers is dedicated to building up enclosures to keep his animal friends safe and secure. He has just completed the first masonry structure hosting nine different snake species; four enclosures are built in the form of closed rooms with a window at the front so that people can view the animals and learn more about them. One enclosure is actually an open basin as the species hosted there are non-climbing snakes like the Gabon Viper.

The other open basin is home to four different species of tortoises; children love watching these slow but fun animals eat vegetables. Walking down the gentle slope is the present location of the chameleons, still to be remodelled and enlarged with a new concept that Kazibwe wants to expedite in the next few months.

Two more large enclosures are located at the end of the compound; one is a very big open basin with a pond hosting three large monitor lizards. The other one, also containing a huge pond to keep the animals cool on hot days, will be home to the famous African Rock Python that he says was brought but released afterwards.

At the end of the compound is a swamp area ideal for reptiles, birds or monkeys to breed and feed. Kazibwe’s vision is to use this swamp for bird-watching and study purposes.In the future, Kazibwe plans (if funding permits) to add other enclosures for crocodiles, another ten different species of snakes, plus a variety of geckos, agamas, lizards and other reptiles. His objective is to secure 49 snake species all found in Uganda.

He has also planted different tree species with local herbs that can cure snake bites. Entrance at Uganda Reptile Village is Shs2000 for adults and Shs1,000 for children.