The Gambia also has a good number of non-venomous snakes; some are very small and some more imposing. What’s great is that if you have the desire/heart/courage (it depends on you), well you can hold them. So strange! 
Whilst Europe freezes, on some occasions even more than Anton in Canada, and wraps a scarf or boa around its neck, we used a python! Be it baby or adult it’s interesting to discover the snake’s touch on you. It’s quite cool, dry and you can feel the scales’ undulations when he wants to move. It’s easy to show-off when you know that the 1m python has already had its fill and won’t be looking to choke you.
The royal python (Python Regius - *) is 1 metre long and the female is often bigger (120cm) than the male (80cm). It’s the smallest in the python family. His scales were quite small and smooth, and around the mouth (top left) he has heat sensors that detect warm-blooded prey, even at night. Near its anus (middle left) he has 2 little spikes that remind you of feet. The African rock python (Python Sebae – bottom right) on the other hand is one of the larger specimens and can even reach 6m in length in some African countries. Here, he’s 4 m maximum. Even if it’s a rarity, he has the capacity of choking a human after reaching 3m in length. He can eat antelope-sized animals, even the occasional croc.
The female python lays her eggs and, contrary to most species, monitors them up to about a year after birth. She sheds her skin few times per year (bottom centre).
Fascinating!
The striped sand snake (Psammophis Sibilans – top left) is the first that we saw and doesn’t reach beyond 1.40m in length. He produces venom but only to digest his prey, often rodents or batrachians as is the case for most snakes.
I was allowed to manipulate the “African rock” baby python (python sebae – middle left) as the adults were a bit too imposing.
The house snake (lamprophis fuliginosum – bottom left) which we would know as ‘couleuvre’ in our region is often mistaken for a young cobra. The latter is recognisable however by his white head when he’s a baby compared to the uniform ‘couleuvre’.
The Central-African egg-eating snake (dasypeltis fasciata – middle bottom) is one of the 2 only groups that has adapted by only eating bird eggs. He can measure from 30 to 100 cm and is non-venomous. His head and jaw are hyper-flexible in order to swallow the egg, then he has "throat teeth" which crack it. He eats the contents before spitting out the crushed shell.
The nicest one was the wolf snake (lycophidion albomacolatum – bottom right). We saw a baby, but its maximum size is around 50cm. The Mandika call it “farrabossa” which means ‘magic snake’ as when it dies, it opens it mouth wide and they think that it has magical powers.
After having observed the sliders, we went on to other reptiles including this nice chameleon (Chameleos Senegalis). He has a long tail which he usually keeps rolled up and funny feet with one toe on one side and three on the other. He could be working with Mickey and Minnie!
The eternal question surfaced again: “Does it change colour?” Well not really, at least not by passing from a red piece of paper to a blue one. He has the usual colour as you can see in the top left picture. That being said, if he gets angry or stressed, he changes. You may be saying “what about our yellow-throated chameleon? Is he stressed or angry?” A bit of both captain, as the poor guy had just been in an involuntary mishap. As he was too close to the grilles to be taken pictures of, the guardian agreed to turn him around so that we could see better… and then… what was going to happen happened, he went too close to the edge and took a dive (middle right… no more Mr Chameleon ☹). In its misfortune and our sadness to think that he may have been hurt, he got out his stressed/angry outfit with a magnificent yellow that we could admire on the ground this time. Poverino, he seems to be scratching his chin!
The Gambia also has several species of turtles.
The fresh water African helmeted turtle (Pelomedusa Subrufa) is a small creature (20cm max) who lives in small basins or stagnant pools. As she digs earth, she has often been used to dig wells. You must still remove the soil she churns out regularly though. The anterior part of her plastron is mobile, and when she is scared, she closes the lid, completely protecting her head.
The terrestrial Bell’s hinge back tortoise (Kinixys Belliana – top right) also has a mobile section which is at the back of the shell which she closes to protect her rear legs as well as her tail. It was funny as when you would press lightly on the rear, the head would come out! With my surprise at this ‘legs in, head out’ defence mechanism, Luc explained that if we move the shell ourselves, she doesn’t have enough space to bring everything in, but if she does it of her own accord, she empties her lungs and can hide all of her parts in her shell. How clever! Nature is well made.
We also saw the giant African spurred tortoise (Geochelone Sulcata) which is the 3rd biggest of its species in the world and 1st on a mainland continent as the others are islands (Aldabra-Seychelles and Galapagos). Their adult weight can reach 90kgs for 90cm and they live about 30 to 50 years.
We also saw terrestrial crabs, the crocodile (Crocodylus Suchus) which resembles his cousin from the Nile but is different and named West African crocodile. Same for those in Kachikally, a correction to note. It’s quite placid apart from when the female protects her eggs and young. We also saw big monitor lizards, those kind of evil-looking reptiles.
And there you have it, we’re now well informed and all that’s left is that we discover all of this in the wild.
Luc organises crocodile discovery excursions for D2000 (About €41/£34/$54) with information viewings and manipulations of small crocs in the late afternoon. This is followed by an evening by the river facing Senegal with a barbecued diner, then in the mangrove on a boat, tracking and finding these brave creatures. I hope that we’ll have the opportunity to go there one day.
He also organises expeditions over a few days (5-6) upstream of the river Gambia in order to count crocodiles. The fees are very limited (hardly more than the evening only) as it helps research and there is pretty much only a spreading of costs. But this allows people to see all sorts of other animals in the wild, particularly birds, the occasional manatee and, why not, hippos. An experience that needs a good group of about 8 people (minimum). Fingers crossed that there will be the opportunity to go as such an experience attracts me a lot. He does it only 2 to 3 times a year though.
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