Hi from Uganda – I think mine is a lot bigger than yours!


Sorry to say I missed the KRAG Bredhurst adder outing and instead am in Uganda for three weeks work. So instead of Bredhurst I took off with some German friends to the Mabira forest not far from the shores of Lake Victoria. The idea was to check out the local wildlife but after three hours of walking I had seen a lot of nice trees, some very amorous slugs, plenty of ants and not much else.

As we approached the end of the walk we got to where the forest edge meets farmland and my hopes started to rise as these margins are always the best for herptiles. No sooner had I thought this than our guide yelled that there was a puff adder in the tree above – so you can imagine my excitement. There was some low canopy at about 2 metres above the path and sure enough I could see the tail of a snake. So I scrambled up a bank to get a closer look. It certainly wasn’t a puff adder and my first thoughts were that it looked like a Gaboon Viper. After a while it dawned on me that it was something rather similar, a Riverjack or Rhinoceros Viper (Bitis nasicornis). But up a tree!! These are very heavy-bodied ambush-predators, this one was medium sized at about 60 cm (they can grow double this) and as you can see in the photo very solidly built and beautifully patterned. I asked the guide about his previous experiences and he confirmed that he had seen them in trees before.




Rhinoceros Vipers are normally very docile, this one didn’t hiss or budge at all when I nudged it very gently. However, this is an extremely poisonous snake with enormous fangs at the front of the mouth. They are basically a ground dwelling species but apparently will climb and have been found up to 3 metres above ground; they can also swim well. For some more details see Wikipedia.

So I am going back to the forest next weekend to see if I can find some more. Adders will look very puny after this!

Rick Hodges

Posted: Mon - April 16, 2007 at 06:02 pm        

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