Two huts were reduced to ashes at Hakko cattle post where cattle herders were in pursuit of a Black mamba that they tried to kill as they saw it as a danger to their lives.
They set alight a tyre and placed it in a thatched hut with the intention to smoke out the reptile but unfortunately, the huts caught alight and got burnt.
“As you can see nothing was left, all our belongings were reduced to ashes, including five containers of water with a capacity of 210ml, as well as water pipes that could stretch a length of 8 kilometres,” said owner Theofelus Hakko, who observed this is the first time in several years that a snake was spotted in that area.
The farm is situated at Oshikukutu in Nehale Lya Mpingana constituency. “This is a big loss. We were planning to connect water to the farm as our waterline broke down a long time ago. Now we are forced to start all over again,” he added. One of the herders, Christian Hafeni, said it took them two days to kill the snake as it charged towards them rearing its head in a menacing manner and on the first day they spotted the serpent, they out of fear sought refuge from a neighbouring farm for safety.
“When there was too much smoke in the burning hut, the snake slithered to the next and by then it was getting dark and we couldn’t do much. That’s when we opted to sleep at the nearby farm as we were in fear of being bitten,” narrated Hafeni. He said the Black mamba was more than two metres in length. “I went out of the house to attend to nature’s call, but when i returned, I saw the trail of a snake and upon closer inspection, we noticed it was in the hut,” he added. In addition, Hakko said he called officials from the ministry of environment to capture the snake, but could not get assistance as environment staff were not on duty due to the lockdown but he was given the go ahead to kill the snake. “I would therefore like to appeal to Good Samaritans to assist in whichever way, as we no longer have water storage, considering that we don’t have a tap of our own and rely on others,” appealed the farmer.