Snakes like these are giants. Black mambas can stretch up to 14 feet, and the longest king cobra ever recorded was 19 feet.
Puff adders are small, by contrast, up to six inches short and no longer than six feet, but very thick. They have long, retractable fangs that can deliver venom to muscles.
Their venom destroys blood clotting factors and victims die a slow, gruesome death, bleeding into the brain, eyes and mouth.
Identifying the attacker can help personalize treatment. But many people never see the snake that bites them, or if they do, they can’t identify it. To the untrained eye, venomous snakes may appear indistinguishable from harmless ones.
The names don’t make it any easier. Green mambas are green, but black mambas are light gray to dark brown; they are so called because the inside of the mouth is black. They are best recognized by their coffin-shaped head and creepy smile.
Some scientists are building artificial intelligence models to identify snakes, so anyone with a smartphone can tell them apart.
About a third of snake bites occur in children. They occur less often among pregnant women, but the outcomes – which include miscarriage, placental abruption, abruption, fetal malformations and death of both mother and fetus – can be catastrophic.
Often the victims are farmers. The loss of a breadwinner devastates families.
Ruth Munuve’s husband worked as a driver in Nairobi and returned home to the family farm every weekend. He was bitten on a Saturday in April 2020, aged 42, while walking through bushes on his way home after a night out.
Two hospitals struggling to treat Covid patients rejected him. By the time he died two days later, his body had swollen to double its size, a hallmark of a viper bite, said his sister, Esther Nziu.
Ms Munuve now grows maize and cowpeas, mainly for food, and sells green grams. Ms Nziu has five children, but is doing her best to help raise her brother’s four children.
Money is scarce, but the women still pay to fortify the house. “I don’t want anyone else to get bitten by snakes,” Ms Nziu said.