Snakes of Southern Africa

Southern Africa is considered the region south of the Kunene and Zambezi Rivers and is made up of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini and Lesotho.
The huge variety of habitats, from deserts in the west to moist montane forests in the east and Mediterranean-like Fynbos in the south, has allowed snake species to radiate into multiple niches.
This habitat diversity, coupled with varied rain patterns and elevation differences across the region has created some of the richest snake diversity in Africa with 177 species currently listed for the subregion

Highly Venomous

Green Mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps)
Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
Anchieta’s Cobra (Naja anchietae)
Snouted Cobra (Naja annulifera)
Mosambique Spitting Cobra (Naja mossambica)
Zebra Cobra (Naja nigricincta nigricincta)
Black Spitting Cobra (Naja nigricincta woodi)
Black-necked Spitting Cobra (Naja nigricollis)
Cape Cobra (Naja nivea)
Brown Forest Cobra (Naja subfulva)
Rinkhals (Hemachatus haemachatus)
Nyanga Rinkhals (Hemachatus nyangensis)
Yellow-bellied Sea Snake (Hydrophis platura)
Boomslang (Dispholidus typus)
Southern Vine Snake (Thelotornis capensis)
Eastern Vine Snake (Thelotornis mossambicanus)
Oates’ Vine Snake (Thelotornis oatesii)
Puff Adder (Bitis arietans)
Gaboon Adder (Bitis gabonica)

Venomous

Cape Coral Snake (Aspidelaps lubricus lubricus)
Kunene Coral Snake (Aspidelaps lubricus cowlesi)
Eastern Shield-nose Snake (Aspidelaps scutatus fulafula)
Intermediate Shield-nose Snake (Aspidelaps scutatus intermedius)
Speckled Shield-nose Snake (Aspidelaps scutatus scutatus)
Boulenger’s Garter Snake (Elapsoidea boulengeri)
Günther’s Garter Snake (Elapsoidea guentheri)
Angola Garter Snake (Elapsoidea semiannulata semiannulata)
De Coster’s Garter Snake (Elapsoidea sundevallii decosteri)
Kalahari Garter Snake (Elapsoidea sundevallii fitzsimonsi)
Long-tailed Garter Snake (Elapsoidea sundevallii longicauda)
Highveld Garter Snake (Elapsoidea sundevallii media)
Sundevall’s Garter Snake (Elapsoidea sundevallii sundevallii)
Albany Adder (Bitis albanica)
Southern Adder (Bitis armata)
Berg Adder (Bitis atropos)
Horned Adder (Bitis caudalis)
Many-horned Adder (Bitis cornuta)
Plain Mountain Adder (Bitis inornata)
Péringuey’s Adder (Bitis peringueyi)
Red Adder (Bitis rubida)
Namaqua Dwarf Adder (Bitis schneideri)
Desert Mountain Adder (Bitis xeropaga)
Snouted Night Adder (Causus defilippii)
Common Night Adder (Causus rhombeatus)
Floodplain Viper (Proatheris superciliaris)
Bibron’s Stiletto Snake (Atractaspis bibronii)
Eastern Congo Stiletto Snake (Atractaspis congica orientalis)
Beaked Stiletto Snake (Atractaspis duerdeni)
Natal Black Snake (Macrelaps microlepidotus)

Can inflict a painful bite

Anchieta’s Dwarf Python (Python anchietae)
(Southern African Python) Python natalensis
Mole Snake (Pseudaspis cana)

Mildy Venomous

Natal Purple-glossed Snake (Amblyodipsas concolor)
Eastern Purple-glossed Snake (Amblyodipsas microphthalma microphthalma)
Soutpansberg Purple-glossed Snake (Amblyodipsas microphthalma nigra)
Common Purple-glossed Snake (Amblyodipsas polylepis polylepis)
Kalahari Purple-glossed Snake (Amblyodipsas ventrimaculata)
Waterberg Quill-snouted Snake (Xenocalamus bicolor australis)
Bicoloured Quill-snouted Snake (Xenocalamus bicolor bicolor)
Striped Quill-snouted Snake (Xenocalamus bicolor lineatus)
Elongate Quill-snouted Snake (Xenocalamus mechowii)
Save Quill-snouted Snake (Xenocalamus sabiensis)
Speckled Quill-snouted Snake (Xenocalamus transvaalensis)
Gerard’s Burrowing Snake (Chilorhinophis gerardi gerardi)
Striped Harlequin Snake (Homoroselaps dorsalis)
Spotted Harlequin Snake (Homoroselaps lacteus)
Black-headed Centipede-eater (Aparallactus capensis)
Black Centipede-eater (Aparallactus guentheri)
Reticulated Centipede-eater (Aparallactus lunulatus)
Mozambique Centipede-eater (Aparallactus nigriceps)
Barotse Water Snake (Crotaphopeltis barotseensis)
Herald Snake (Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia)
Eastern Bark Snake (Hemirhagerrhis nototaenia)
Viperine Rock Snake (Hemirhagerrhis viperinus)
Western Keeled Snake (Pythonodipsas carinata)
Marbled Tree Snake (Dipsadoboa aulica)
Cross-barred Tree Snake (Dipsadoboa flavida)
Dwarf Beaked Snake (Dipsina multimaculata)
Many-spotted Reed Snake (Amplorhinus multimaculatus)
Cream-spotted Mountain Snake (Montaspis gilvomaculata)
Spotted Skaapsteker (Psammophylax rhombeatus)
Striped Skaapsteker (Psammophylax tritaeniatus)
Grey-bellied Skaapsteker (Psammophylax variabilis)
Rufous Beaked Snake (Rhamphiophis rostratus)
Dwarf Sand Snake (Psammophis angolensis)
Short-snouted Grass Snake (Psammophis brevirostris)
Cross-marked Grass Snake (Psammophis crucifer)
Jalla’s Sand Snake (Psammophis jallae)
Cape Sand Snake (Psammophis leightoni)
Leopard Sand Snake (Psammophis leopardinus)
Lined Sand Snake (Psammophis lineatus)
Olive Grass Snake (Psammophis mossambicus)
Namib Sand Snake (Psammophis namibensis)
Karoo Sand Snake (Psammophis notostictus)
Eastern Stripe-bellied Sand Snake (Psammophis orientalis)
Western Stripe-bellied Sand Snake (Psammophis subtaeniatus)
Fork-Marked Sand Snake (Psammophis trinasalis)
Western Sand Snake (Psammophis trigrammus)
Beetz’s Tiger Snake (Telescopus beetzii)
Western Tiger Snake (Telescopus polystictus)
Eastern Tiger Snake (Telescopus semiannulatus)
Damara Tiger Snake (Telescopus finkeldeyi)

Harmless

Brown House Snake (Boaedon capensis)
Zambezi House Snake (Boaedon fradei)
Bug-eyed House Snake (Boaedon mentalis)
Variegated House Snake (Boaedon variegatus)
Aurora House Snake (Lamprophis aurora)
Fisk’s House Snake (Lamprophis fiskii)
Yellow-bellied Snake (Lamprophis fuscus)
Spotted Rock Snake (Alopecion guttatum)
Swazi Rock Snake (Inyoka swazicus)
Olive Snake (Lycodonomorphus inornatus)*
Dusky-bellied Water Snake (Lycodonomorphus laevissimus)
Mulanje Water Snake (Lycodonomorphus mlanjensis)
Floodplain Water Snake (Lycodonomorphus obscuriventris)
Brown Water Snake (Lycodonomorphus rufulus)
Bangweulu Swamp Snake (Limnophis bangweolicus)
Olive Marsh Snake (Natriciteres olivacea)
Forest Marsh Snake (Natriciteres sylvatica)
Common Wolf Snake (Lycophidion capense)
Hellmich’s Wolf Snake (Lycophidion hellmichi)
Spotted Wolf Snake (Lycophidion multimaculatum)
Namibia Wolf Snake (Lycophidion namibianum)
Dwarf Wolf Snake (Lycophidion nanum)
Pygmy Wolf Snake (Lycophidion pygmaeum)
Bazaruto Wolf Snake (Lycophidion semiannule)
Variegated Wolf Snake (Lycophidion variegatum)
Semiornate Snake (Meizodon semiornatus semiornatus)
Kunene Racer (Mopanveldophis zebrinus)
Angola Green Snake (Philothamnus angolensis)
Green Water Snake (Philothamnus hoplogaster)
Large-eyed Green Snake (Philothamnus macrops)
Eastern Natal Green Snake (Philothamnus natalensis )
Western Natal Green Snake (Philothamnus occidentalis)
Ornate Green Snake (Philothamnus ornatus)
Spotted Bush Snake (Philothamnus semivariegatus)
Angolan Shovel-snout (Prosymna angolensis)
Two-striped Shovel-snout (Prosymna bivittata)
South-western Shovel-snout (Prosymna frontalis)
Jan’s Shovel-snout (Prosymna janii)
Lined Shovel-snout (Prosymna lineata)
Kalahari Shovel-snout (Prosymna lisima)
East African Shovel-snout (Prosymna stuhlmanni)
Sundevall’s Shovel-snout (Prosymna sundevallii)
Visser’s Shovel-snout (Prosymna visseri)
Black File Snake (Gracililima nyassae)
Common File Snake (Limaformosa capensis)
Angola File Snake (Limaformosa vernayi)
Brown Egg-eater (Dasypeltis inornata)
Namibian Egg-eater (Dasypeltis loveridgei)
East African Egg-eater (Dasypeltis medici)
Common Egg-eater (Dasypeltis scabra)
Common Slug-eater (Duberria lutrix)
Zimbabwe Slug-eater (Duberria rhodesiana)
Variegated Slug-eater (Duberria variegata)
Bibron’s Blind Snake (Afrotyphlops bibronii)
Fornasini’s Blind Snake (Afrotyphlops fornasinii)
Zambezi Blind Snake (Afrotyphlops dinga)
Schlegel’s Blind Snake (Afrotyphlops schlegelii)
Slender Blind Snake (Afrotyphlops obtusus)
Boyle’s Beaked Blind Snake (Rhinotyphlops boylei)
Delalande’s Beaked Blind Snake (Rhinotyphlops lalandei)
Schinz’s Beaked Blind Snake (Rhinotyphlops schinzi)
Flowerpot Snake (Indotyphlops braminus)
Long-tailed Thread Snake (Myriopholis longicauda)
Slender Thread Snake (Namibiana gracilior)
Damara Thread Snake (Namibiana labialis)
Western Thread Snake (Namibiana occidentalis)
Incognito Thread Snake (Leptotyphlops incognitus)
Jacobsen’s Thread Snake (Leptotyphlops jacobseni)
Black Thread Snake (Leptotyphlops nigricans)
Pungwe Thread Snake (Leptotyphlops pungwensis)
Eastern Cape Thread Snake (Leptotyphlops scutifrons conjunctus)
Peters’ Thread Snake (Leptotyphlops scutifrons scutifrons)
Forest Thread Snake (Leptotyphlops sylvicolus)
Tello’s Thread Snake (Leptotyphlops telloi)
Distant’s Thread Snake (Leptotyphlops distanti)