A fearless mongoose takes on a large, venomous black Mamba snake and comes out unscathed and victorious over one of Africa’s d𝙚𝙖𝙩dliest.

35-year-old Field Guide Ankia Pusey was driving on the S130 Gomondwane Loop in the south of the Kruger National Park when she came across a fierce battle between a Black Mamba and a mongoose. This sighting was shared on the Latest Sightings page.

“It was a cool day with soft rain. The road was quiet, and there were no other vehicles in sight. We took it slow, did some birding, and looked for tracks and signs of animals in the area. I then heard starling alarm calls and informed my guests that the starlings had been disturbed by something, most likely a snake or an owlet.”

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Always be weary and alert to the sounds around you when out on safari. Alarm calls from various species may lead you to great moments in the bush, and that was exactly the case with Anika.

“I stopped the open safari vehicle, and we then saw the starlings dropping down towards a sickle bush. That’s when we saw a movement inside the bush. At that point, I realized it was a snake, and we saw the large Black Mamba move a little higher up, towards the top of the bush, still in between the leaves and twigs. Suddenly, the Slender Mongoose went straight towards the mamba from the bottom of the bush, through the leaves and twigs.”

Most of the time, when mongooses attack snakes, they’ll 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 the snake. We will never know why this mongoose left the snake after about an hour. Perhaps it was a female mongoose with young in the area, and she just wanted to make sure it didn’t get to her young.