The planet currently plays host to approximately 4,145 snakes (As of August 2024), with new species being described all the time. South America, Africa and Asia have the most snake species with every other continent, except for Antarctica containing snakes. Snakes are incredibly versatile animals, and can be found in almost every biome, habitat and ecosystem on Earth. They are both predator and prey and are an integral component of most food webs. They are also famed for feasting on a wide range of animals, which benefits humans and other wildlife alike. Despite their critical role in virtually every ecosystem on Earth, they are continually persecuted by humans for their perceived danger. Whilst there exists many dangerous snakes, the amount of harmless snakes far exceed them with most regions, countries and continents only supporting a handful of truly life threatening serpents. South Africa is no exception to this rule with the vast majority of snakes bearing absolutely no threat to humans whatsoever.

There are approximately 114 snakes in South Africa (not including sub-species). Most of the snakes are either mildly venomous or lack venom completely making them completely harmless, with only a small proportion being dangerous to humans. A snake is only considered dangerous to humans in this article if they are capable of taking a human life if their bite is left untreated. By this definition there are 15 snakes (including the yellow-bellied sea snake) capable of killing a human being in South Africa. 

Snakes Capable of Producing Life Threatening Bites in South Africa

Of these snakes only a handful are considered ‘very’ dangerous to humans. This is because behaviour, ecology and distribution play a massive role in human/snake interactions, so if a snake rarely bites humans it is not considered very dangerous here, even if it does have incredibly toxic venom. A great example of this is the boomslang because while its’ venom is drop-for-drop amongst the most toxic in the world, the snakes’ timid nature coupled with its’ tendency to flee instead of bite renders bites incredibly rare in South Africa. This makes the snake less of a concern to humans because it doesn’t really matter how venomous it is if it very rarely bites any humans. In other worlds… It takes ‘talent’ to get bitten by a boomslang.

Of the 15 dangerous (i.e. potentially life threatening) snakes in South Africa, four species stand out as the most important, based on a combination of their behavior, their propensity to bite and the toxicity of their venom. These four snakes are the Black Mamba, Cape Cobra, Puff Adder and the Mozambique Spitting Cobra. Of these four, the Black Mamba and Cape Cobra are definitely the most dangerous, not because they produce the most bites or are aggressive, but because of the potency of their venom. When either of these snakes bite you it is very serious and if medical treatment is not sought promptly, serious complications are very likely to follow.

The Cape cobra is responsible for the most snake-related deaths in the Cape provinces and is the most venomous cobra in Africa. The Black Mamba is the most dangerous snake in South Africa, with the most confirmed snake-related deaths in the country. The Black mamba is also one the ten most venomous snakes in the world when you take into consideration the toxicity and quantity of venom injected during the average envenomation.  The rest of this list belongs to snakes such as the Inland Taipan, Coastal Taipan and Eastern Brown Snake from Australia. 

While bites from the Puff Adder and Mozambique Spitting Cobra rarely result in human fatalities, they along with the stiletto snake (Atractaspis bibronii) are responsible for approximately 80% of all serious bites in South Africa. The venoms from these snakes are primarily cytotoxic meaning they often result in local swelling, severe pain and even limb loss in extreme cases. While bites from stiletto snakes have not resulted in human deaths in South Africa, there have been fatalities further north in Africa.

Cape Cobra – Naja nivea

Black Mamba – Dendroaspis polylepis

Puff Adder – Bitis arietans

Mozamabique Spitting Cobra – Naja mossambica