This Durban snake-catcher is passionate about educating people about these slithery creatures

Stay away from snakes, she was told, they’re evil – and as a kid she believed what she heard and did what she was told.

But the woman standing before us cradling a 1,2m python as if it was a baby clearly feels differently about the wriggling reptiles now. 

“Do you know that snakes are more afraid of humans than humans are of snakes?” Mbali Mtshali says. “They don’t go out of their way to attack you. In South Africa there are up to 160 snake species and only 10% of them are venomous.”