Though snake catching is not a common or lucrative business, a villager from Tshivhulani, outside Thohoyandou in Limpopo, is passionate about it. An electrician by trade, the self-taught snake catcher removes snakes from homes around the Thohoyandou area.
Thirty one-year-old Fhulufhelo Saesa, popularly known as “Fluza the snake catcher”, started his part-time trade five years ago. Before he started working on his passion, Saesa says community members relied on him to kill snakes if spotted in the area.
He changed his perspective on snakes after working at a museum in a resort. Saesa has designed equipment to catch snakes such as snake hooks, snake tongs, and folding snake tongs.
He catches venomous and non-venomous snakes. These include African rock python, black mamba, Mozambican spitting cobra, and boomslang, amongst others. He says snakes should be afforded an opportunity to live.
The snake catcher sometimes receives little donations from households after catching snakes. After catching the snakes, he keeps them for a while before releasing them into the wild, back to nature.
“Fluza the snake catcher” was bitten by a venomous snake, but survived after treatment at a hospital.
He’s urged people not to confront snakes but rather be safe. He says one should call a snake catcher if there’s any or allow them to slither into wilderness.
Meet Fluza the snake catcher:
Reporting by Avhapfani Munyai
