- [Mike] This is a man eating a snake.
(man mumbling)
- [Gumbo] It's spaghetti.
(crowd laughing)
- [Mike] Don't worry, he's not harming it.
He's just giving it a new home.
While in Tanzania,
my friend, Gumbo, showed me these strange videos
of a small branch
of the Zigua tribe.
A group that dances with snakes.
Not just any snakes.
Poisonous ones.
He said he had a phone number.
I never locked in a trip so fast in my life.
And when we get there,
man, just wait until you see this.
(slow mystical music)
How the hell did I get here?
Let's quickly set the stage.
This is the quiet town of Miono,
near the coast in Tanzania.
We show up early and the tribe is already there.
They're called the Wonunguli,
and they're a clan of the Zigua tribe.
They've devoted themselves to the art of
traditional snake medicine and handling.
Showing up today, I honestly had no idea what to expect.
But we meet Scoza, who sets our expectations for the day.
Is it poison, it's okay?
- [Gumbo] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[Mike] Yes, it's poison or yes, it's okay?
- [Gumbo] It's okay, it's okay.
Black mamba.
- That's a black mamba.
- Yeah yeah Yeah, that's a black mamba.
- That's a black mamba.
(Gumbo speaks in foreign language)
(Minimbo speaks in foreign language)
- Are you serious, it is?
- Yeah, they are black mamba.
Poisonous snake.
- It's the most poisonous snake in Africa.
- In the world. - In the world, then.
- Yeah, in the world, I would say.
Yup.
So, green mamba and black mamba.
- Look at my, I've got goosebumps.
- Hah hah.
- Literally, I've got - Yeah, serious.
- You see that?
- I'm not joking. - Yeah, I can,
I can tell.
- That thing is about as safe as a
a toddler with an AK-47. - Um-hum
Um-hum, um-hum, um-hum.
It's a
very poisonous snake.
- Are you serious?
- Very serious.
- Oh.
Oh.
(snake strikes) - Black mamba!
- The black mamba.
- Mamba out.
- [Mike] Hollywood loves this snake.
The black mamba has a reputation
of being one of the most dangerous snakes in the world,
and the main reason of this
is the potent neurotoxin in its bite.
The venom affects your nervous system;
stopping your heart, your lungs and your brain function.
You'll blackout in under an hour,
and you'll be dead in just three.
It's one of the most deadly animals on the entire planet.
- This, Gumbo, this seems like suicidal, though.
Like, because they all,
they must not have...
are they defanged?
- Yeah, they're defanged.
- Oh, they're defanged. - Yup.
- Oh, that's a massive relief.
(Mike and Gumbo laugh)
I was like, "Have they...
they're just letting it move around?"
But you could, the crazy thing is
you can see like, some of the,
like the pythons are much more relaxed.
- Right.
- That is not a relaxed snake.
That is a highly alert, ready to attack snake.
- Right.
- You can, I came,
I got, I saw it.
It saw me.
It looked at me and it started coming at me a little bit.
(tribe member speaks in foreign language)
(Gumbo speaks in foreign language)
- [Gumbo] Up to one meter, they can stand up one meter.
- They can stand up one meter.
[Gumbo] So, he's trying to show how you can maneuver.
(Minimbo in foreign language)
- [Gumbo] Eh?
(Minimbo speaks in foreign language)
(Gumbo speaks in foreign language)
- [Mike] Defanged or not,
being around this animal is like
someone pointing a gun at your face
and telling you there's no bullets.
It's hard to relax.
(Minimbo speaks in foreign language)
(Gumbo speaks in foreign language)
- [Mike] Yeah, I notice you're standing
a bit further away than normal.
- Yeah.
(Mike laughs)
Social distance.
- [Mike] Social distancing.
(Gumbo laughs)
Minimbo is the tribe's leader
and master snake handler,
and he talks a little bit more about it.
(Minimbo speaks in foreign language)
- He inherited this kind of
traditional healing from his father.
And why he's doing this, because mainly
all the snakes here in Africa,
or in the world, has got a poison.
So, he's actually collecting these kinds of species
and trying to teach people, or to train people,
on how they can best handle the situation when by a snake,
including a,
including this poisonous black mamba and the boomslang.
If you work harder and actually you know,
or you get the understanding of the snake,
the snake and you will become friends.
That's why.
So, he just wants people to understand that
you can learn, and then you can live with snakes peacefully.
- [Mike] So it's safe to say,
it's safe to say that the main thing
they're trying to do is to educate people
that snakes aren't as dangerous
- Yeah, yeah. - Some snakes are dangerous.
- Yeah
- [Mike] But we don't have to be
as scared of snakes
- Yeah.
- [Mike] as we think
- That's correct, Mike.
- [Mike] Okay, that sounds cool.
But it doesn't explain the dancing.
So, Minimbo continues.
(Minimbo speaks in foreign language)
- Even snake they do require to the back, I mean to remove
their scales - Yeah.
- sometimes. - Um-hum.
- I think it's yearly, or it depends
on the type of the snake.
So, they do believe playing with them,
and I mean, by the time they are removing their scales,
it's also helping them to bond with snakes.
- [Mike] Ah.
- Yeah, so that's why they also play with them.
(Gumbo and Minimbo speak in foreign language)
- Even you, he said, he welcome you
to become a Wonunguli.
- [Mike] I could become an Wonunguli?
- Wonunguli.
- [Mike] Wonunguli? (laughs)
I could become,
so anybody could become a traditional snake handler?
- Yeah, yeah, anyone.
- Anyone.
- Can become a Wonunguli.
- Well, we have like an hour.
It probably takes a bit longer than that.
(Mike and Gumbo laugh)
- Today's sequence of events:
#1, gets scared shitless.
Done, check.
#2, watch a traditional Zigua tribe dance.
And then we're going to see
what the Wonunguli have tweaked it with.
Spoiler alert.
Yeah, it's poisonous snakes.
(Zigua members singing traditional song)
- [Mike] The dance is called Sero.
I didn't get a briefing on the story being told here,
but maybe it's a fertility dance.
Either way, it's fantastic.
Some of the locals just realized
that there are snakes here.
As we met the Zigua, this branch of the Zigua tribe,
half way in between our village where we are staying,
and their village, so the locals didn't know
that there was more than just dancers here today.
And when they saw these giant
3-meter-long long African rock pythons,
everyone screamed and ran away
and then peered nervously.
But that's exactly why this tribe does what they do.
Around the world, it doesn't matter if it's Africa
or the Philippines or South America,
or even Canada, my hometown,
snakes, things with scales are considered dangerous.
And I've seen people cut heads off snakes.
Cut, stomp out lizards that weren't even poisonous.
Just people think scales equals danger,
equals must die.
And all reptiles around the world
are having a massive problem of just being killed
for simply being themselves,
even if they're not dangerous.
So what this tribe does:
they travel around,
they educate people about snakes,
they show them the differences,
they give them an environment where it's not dangerous.
It's not like, you know, the high terror
tension moment you see in like a nature documentary.
They introduced them as snakes.
Show them they're not all dangerous.
Teach them the ones to watch out for,
and they also, if there's a pest problem,
if a snake does enter a village,
they come and take it away and relocate it.
It's a beautiful thing.
It's really, a really cool thing.
(Zigua members singing traditional song)
(Zigua members speaking in foreign language)
- [Mike] That's a black mamba bag.
- Yeah.
Yeah, actually the headbands,
the red headbands they are the people
who are qualified to become Wonunguli.
- [Mike] He's having a casual conversation
and he's got a handful
(Mike and Gumbo laughing)
- He's got a handful of black mamba's
- And Boomslang.
And the boomslang, actually.
Deadly snake.
- Two black mamba's and a boomslang.
- Yeah. - And a green mamba, too.
(Mike does a raspberry)
(Scoza sings in foreign language)
The Xylophone kicks up.
The chanting continues.
And the Wonunguli start to dance with their snakes.
(Zigua members sing traditional song)
(mystical music)
- I think it's probably safe to say
the snakes aren't particularly thrilled to be shaken around.
Not as thrilled as the people anyway.
Listen, before I started making YouTube videos,
I used to travel to witness the world without judgment.
Tried to keep an open mind,
even when I saw things that shocked me.
That hasn't changed with YouTube.
On this channel, specifically, Fearless and Far,
I continue that travel style
by finding things that challenge me.
That make me ask questions.
And that's exactly what's happening here.
I don't think this is right.
I don't think this is wrong.
I don't exactly know what it is,
but I'm here to show what exists on this planet.
I'd love to know what you think about it, actually.
Is this right, is this wrong?
Should it happen, should it stop?
What are the pros and cons,
and is it a net negative or a net positive?
They are helping save snakes in the end,
and also helping people not to just,
you know, chop their heads up with a shovel.
Let me know.
We'll talk about it in the comments.
It's heavy (Mike laughs)
This okay?
- Yeah.
- All right.
I'm okay.
(tribe member speaks in foreign language)
- Do I hold on to the neck?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, alright.
Okay, alright.
This might be one of the craziest things I've ever done.
(Mike laughs)
I don't think there's very many places
in the world where you can have
an experience of holding a black mamba.
That's not something that was on my bucket list.
But it's a,
it's a beautiful animal,
despite making my heart race quite furiously.
These are defanged by the way.
Ay oh, watch it, man.
My heart just exploded.
So are you scared of snakes?
- Actually, no,
because my of my wildlife personnel.
- [Mike] Oh yeah, you're right.
- My background actually doesn't allow me
to be scared of snakes.
(Mike laughs)
- But I took much precaution.
- [Mike] Of course.
- Yeah.
- So actually, Gumbo works with Jane Goodall.
And also a fixture for a lot of television shows
and also an amazing guide.
And he's the guy who hooked up Hazabe,
and a lot of my other Tanzania adventurous.
So, if you're coming here to Tanzania,
or anywhere in east Africa actually,
he organizes trips,
he'll make your Africa dreams come true.
This is Minimbo and Scoza.
It was an incredible thing today.
I've got so much respect for these guys and what they do.
Also the education as well.
Not to mention being able to handle
and defang these poisonous snakes as well.
(Mike laughs)
Chase your fears, guys.
Stay away from poisonous snakes,
and I'll catch you on the next video,
on Fearless and Far.
(louder upbeat music)