Travel|Nairobi Snake Park

Due to popular demand on my last travel post, you can read it here if you haven’t, I shared my experience at The Snake Park.

On my last day in Nairobi, I visited The Nairobi National Museum and The Snake Park. The two tourist attractions are inside the same environs and if you decide to visit both you get charged only KES 1,500 ($15) for combination tickets. The museum is gigantic and rich in history and information but this post isn’t about the museum.

I went to the snake park right after visiting the museum and once my ticket was confirmed, I was asked if I wanted a tour guide and I said yes. He was so helpful by the way, and he made my experience a lot more enjoyable. Even though it’s called a snake park, the park keeps other animals as well; loads of fishes and sea animals, turtles, tortoises, a rare lizard, an alligator and a crocodile.

The tour commenced and I was shown an array of about 5-7 house snakes. For some reason I was alarmed when one of the snakes moved. Don’t ask me why, I’m not sure as well. I knew I was in a snake park.

Then I saw the biggest snake ever but it was dead. It was burnt by poachers, got rescued and was brought to the snake park for treatment but it later died about three months later.

We took a little break from the snakes at my request to visit the aquarium. It was really beautiful and I saw all kinds of fish; Pangani barb, Straightfin barb, Tilapia, Common carp, Carassius Auratus (goldfish), Catfish, Seabass, Barracuda, Starfish, Jellyfish, Mackerel and a whole lot of others. Less I forget, I also saw the Finding Dory fish and other sea creatures like sea urchins and giant tube worms.

Back to my snake tour, it was time to see the cobras and pythons. I was schooled on the difference between them. Did you know that Pythons are not venomous but certain ones are so large and powerful that they can quite literally squeeze a human to death? On the other hand, Cobras are venomous and a single bite can kill between 10-60 minutes depending on the type.

Did you know that besides the black mamba there also other types of mambas??? The park keeps three types of mambas. The Green Mamba which is beautiful, The Jameson’s Mamba and The Black Mamba. Did you also know that The Black Mamba isn’t even black in colour? It’s olive, brown, yellow-brown or grey in colour. The one at the park is grey.

Thereafter, I was asked if I wanted to touch a snake or even carry one…

I said yes! This is a python by the way, according to the staff it’s best to hold it right under the head. Trust me, the snake is bigger and heavier than it looks.

Writing about my travels takes me back to the moments and I’m glad you genuinely enjoy my travel posts and requested for this. I still have one more travel post to write and that will be it for Nairobi, Kenya.

Thanks for reading.

Will you ever touch or carry a snake?

Mariam Shittu