Africa's Most Dangerous Snakes

Africa has its fair share of dangerous, venomous snakes. Growing up in Malawi where the Black Mamba is quite common, made me rather wary of any snake. Black Mambas are the world's fastest snakes, they're aggressive, and highly venomous hence my healthy respect/fear for snakes. But while the Black Mamba, Boomslang, Gaboon Viper, Puff Adder and other venomous African snakes can kill a human with just one bite, the fact is this doesn't happen very often at all.

The fear of dangerous snakes far outweighs the actual danger and unfortunately leads to many needless snake deaths. Basically anything that was found slithering around our garden or at school was hacked to pieces by scared onlookers, much to the disgust of my one snake-loving relative. Because around 90% of snakes are not venomous, and those that are will usually avoid danger rather than seek it out.

Check out my list of Africa's most dangerous snakes for facts and information about each one.

_{Image of the Gaboon Viper, largest fanged snake in the world -- Getty Images/Tom Brakefield}