Up close and personal with local snakes

Gallery Video

GEORGE NEWS AND VIDEO - Local snake expert Nick Kolberg stunned onlookers on Saturday afternoon, 25 January, with the way he handled venomous and non-venomous snakes during a snake talk at the George Museum.

The talk formed part of the Eden Empathy Initiative, a non-profit company founded in 2018 by Karen Rademeyer from Knysna.

Kolberg taught visitors which snakes are most common in our area, how to identify them, how to prevent being bitten by a snake, what to do when you come across a snake, what to do when you get bitten, and much more.

In his collection were local snakes such as the Cape Cobra, a rinkhals, a puff adder, boomslang, a night adder, an egg eater, an olive house snake and a reticulated python that originates from Southern Asia.

Photo gallery: Snake talk George Museum

The Eden Empathy Initiative is a free after-school and therapy programme based in Knysna. "Our multi-part programme combines an exciting new mix of animal-related education, skills training, activities and therapy - all aimed at unlocking and developing empathy, authentic leadership and coping skills," says Rademeyer." Nick is our resident wildlife expert and his educational talks form an invaluable part of our initiative."

Watch a video below:

Nick showed the audience one of his Cape cobras. The Cape cobra is one of four non-spitting cobras found in southern Africa. They can reach up to 1,6m in length and vary in colour from light yellow to rich yellow, copper, or light to medium or dark brown and even black, often speckled with shades of brown and orange.