(light suspenseful music)
- This South African sun will literally cook you alive,
it has to be well over 100 degrees out here right now,
there's no sign of animals anywhere.
Here's a nice, flat one.
Snake, right there!
Wow, look at that!
It's a puff adder.
Ooh, it's getting a little agitated there.
(dynamic jungle music)
When you think of South Africa,
your mind likely pictures vast, rolling grasslands,
classic savanna, strewn generously with herding hoof stock
and stalking predators, yet much to my surprise,
several wilderness stretches throughout the Eastern Cape
are also blanketed with impressive mountain ranges.
Today we are exploring a private stretch of land
in the Baviaanskloof wilderness,
managed by the Reserve Protection Agency,
this 25,000 acre sanctuary
is the perfect place to explore for animals
and has gone virtually untouched by man for over a century.
- [Mark] Alright, what's going on, Coyote?
- Some serious off roading here in South Africa
on our way today, out to look for reptiles
under the heat of the sun,
a good chance of finding lizards and diurnal snakes.
Stay tuned, we'll see what happens.
- Hang on, guys.
- [Coyote] Woo!
Slam, Mario.
This guy's a madman, when he's driving.
Aside from the miles of rock-strewn roads,
that intricately lace this land
like a network of adventure-pumping veins,
we may as well have been the first humans
to ever step foot in this wild place.
Eventually the roads do come to an end
and the only way to traverse deeper into the unknown
is to trust one's own feet to lead the way,
so we abandoned our vehicle
and set off to see what we could find.
The mid-morning sun quickly brings
an incredible heat to the surrounding environment,
making it nearly impossible to function,
if you were a human.
I'll tell you guys this much,
this South African sun will literally cook you alive,
it has to be well over 100 degrees out here right now,
there's no sign of animals anywhere.
I think our best bet at this point
is to start looking in the shade,
I tell you what, that's where this animal wants to be.
Woo!
Reptiles typically thrive under these conditions
activating off of the sun's powerful rays,
yet much to our sweaty dismay,
the sun was already so intense,
that I knew our best chances of encountering scaly beasts
would likely happen, if I gently flipped over flat rocks.
Nothing.
These safe havens provided
a much needed relief from the blistering rays
and also served as an ideal hiding spot
from potential predators.
Rock after rock I flipped, until finally I flipped a winner.
Here's a nice, flat one.
Snake, right there!
Wow, look at that!
It's a puff adder.
- Are you sure? - Oh yeah, 100%
and look at that cryptic patterning,
perfectly blended into the environment,
almost looks like spider webbing across its back, wow.
Now, despite the fact that this is a very small snake,
they get a lot bigger then this,
it is still incredibly dangerous.
Alright, it's gonna be hard to balance him
on the end of the snake stick and get him up into the shade,
so what I'm gonna do is actually place him inside of my hat,
whoop, there we go. - Nice.
- Look at that.
Alright, come on, up here into the shade,
we wanna keep him out of the sun.
Look at this little snake.
If I tilt my hat down there, you can see
he's totally comfortable inside of the basin of my hat,
now, no, there's no magic trick,
where I put the hat back on top of my head
and pull out a dangerous viper,
but what I wanna do is here,
actually this is a perfect rock right here,
check that out, nice and light in coloration,
let me see if I can get the snake
to just coil up on this rock,
so we can get up it close for the cameras,
alright, here you go, buddy, there we go.
I'm hoping sometimes when you just cover a snake up,
it feels protected, so my hat over top of it
will hopefully form it into a little, tight, compact mass.
Now we'll get some good shots of it,
yes, look at that.
- [Mark] You can see it puffing.
- Now what I wanna do
is very carefully lift up this rock,
that's a risky little game right there,
but as long as I keep my fingers under the rock,
I will be just fine, look at that snake,
beautiful in coloration,
now let me use the snake stick here,
get a tight, zoomed in shot of that snake's face
and you'll notice that while this is a viper,
it is not a pit viper and unlike rattlesnakes
or the Fer-de-Lances, that we've encountered
in Central and South America,
you will notice that it has an eye and a nostril,
but no heat-sensing pit.
Now this is an ambush predator
and this is exactly what they will do,
so they curl up in a ball
with that S-shaped curve to their neck,
you can see, there's yads puffing up its body,
right now, it's saying to me, "Coyote, I'm a big snake,
"you don't wanna get any closer than this."
They're very fast striking, all they need to do
is lash out that head, inject venom with those fangs
and you're gonna be in a world of trouble,
if you're filled with that cytotoxic venom.
Now once the prey has succumbed to that venom
and then they die, the snake will slowly move in
and it will have a meal.
Ooh, it's getting a little agitated there,
you see that, here, let me lower the rock down,
take the snake away from my face,
this is why they are called puff adders.
Now the puff adder is responsible for more bites,
than any other snake species here in South Africa
and that's because they are oftentimes
found in close proximity to humans,
you'll often find them in a residential area.
Now, as you can see, these snakes don't have rattles,
so they have no ability to warn you,
if you're close to them in the environment,
so oftentimes people are bitten
just walking through the underbrush,
if this snake is curled up in a ball
and it strikes out at your foot,
you're wearing flip flops or sandals,
woo, you're gonna be in a world of hurt,
but this is not a reptile that you need to be afraid of,
they're so perfectly camouflaged in the environment,
oftentimes you walk right by it
and never even notice that it is there
and next to the Cape cobra,
I would say that this is arguably
the most dangerous snake species here in South Africa.
Let me just lower it down here a little bit
and notice how cryptic its patterning is,
I tried to point this out
right when we flipped over that rock and found it,
but here on this lighter colored rock,
you can see how distinct its patterning is.
Now they do have a very strong keeled scaled patterning,
that runs the length of their body,
look at that, black and cream,
which helps them hide between the light and the shadows
when they're out there just before sunset
and just before sunrise hunting for their prey
and notice how girthy the body of this snake is,
oftentimes you think of snakes
as being nothing more than necks and tails
and this one seems to be all body
with just one itty-bitty, tiny tail
at the end there, super cute
and this is a small one,
I mean, this is maybe only a couple of weeks old.
- [Mark] How big do they get?
- They can be about three and a half to four feet in length,
- Really, wow. - enormous in girth,
I mean, this is a very, very large bodied snake.
- [Mark] Like how big around?
- Gently set you down there,
easily this big around.
- Really? - Yeah.
- Wow. - A handful,
so they're probably more wide-bodied
than any snake we have ever worked with before.
Like I said, even though this is a small,
little neonate of a puff adder,
it's still a really cool snake
to be getting in front of the cameras
and no, guys, I'm not gonna actually hold this snake
by its head and show you its fangs, it's far too dangerous
and this snake is very small,
we wanna put as little stress on the animal as possible.
But see if you can just zoom in there
and get some really cool, tight shots of its face.
- [Mark] I can definitely see it lacks pits.
- Hm-mm. - Golden eyes.
- Beautiful, the eyes blend right into the skin.
Well, I'd say that was a pretty successful expedition,
flipping over rocks all morning
and we finally come across one of the most toxic snakes
here in South Africa, the puff adder.
I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave,
stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
Alright, let's let this guy back under his rock.
When it comes to dangerous snakes in South Africa,
the puff adder is second only to the Cape cobra,
when it comes to being potentially deadly.
Their cryptic nature and ambush tactics
make them particularly dangerous,
'cause they're likely to be hidden
and staying completely still,
so a word of advice to the adventurous,
if you are hiking in the Eastern Cape region,
make sure to always wear proper hiking boots
and be cognizant of each and every step,
because the last thing you want to do
is find yourself at the end of a puff adder strike.
Hey Coyote Pack, I have some exciting news,
I am proud to announce that the crew and I
are headed back on tour with Brave Wilderness Live.
Our next shows take place in the Midwest
and kick off in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois,
from there, we will visit Royal Oak, Michigan
and finally we return home to Ohio
for two highly anticipated shows
in both Cleveland and Columbus.
Tickets can be purchased at the Brave Wilderness website
and these shows are certain to sell out,
so make sure that you reserve your seats today
and don't forget, subscribe, so you can join me and the crew
on our next big adventure.
(cheering children)
- [Mario] Yeah!
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave.
- [Audience] Stay wild!
(light jungle music)