Murang'a 'snake charmer' seeks to protect reptile linked to witchcraft

The mention of Eston Kimani’s name elicits both fear and respect at his Kadundu village home in Murang’a County.

The 23-year-old is an untrained snake handler but is known for his love  of the reptiles and commitment to their preservation.

While he lacks the scientific knowledge of snake handling, Kimani, nicknamed Virus, has taught himself how to expertly use his bare hands, wooden sticks and a gunny bag to immobilise and catch the reptiles.

The sight of him walking down a village path is enough to send children scampering in different directions screaming his name.

And as word has gone round Murang’a that he is an expert snake catcher, locals have been seeking his assistance to fish out snakes that have ventured into human habitats.

Easy capture

Last week, the form one drop-out was in his element when he helped capture a 12-foot python near Posta along Murang’a-Kiriaini road.

The reptile weighed 35 kilograms.

In their hundreds, locals gathered after word spread quickly that a python had been spotted in the area.

According to the residents, armed Kenya Wildlife Service rangers had tried in vain to capture it for almost two hours and had given up.

Resident Bernard Thome said KWS wanted to kill the reptile.

“We told them we knew the young man so we called him. He took a motorcycle and in no time, he was here. We have nicknamed him Virus for how easily he captures the snakes,” Mr Thome said.

Kimani arrived with no protective gear and swung into action, skillfully trying to remove it from the thorny thicket in which it had taken cover.

As he wrestled it, phones were out as everybody tried to capture the moment. He managed to grab the reptile's head while a few brave people held the tail. 

Crowd goes wild

In less than 20 minutes of wrestling the snake, he finally managed to remove it from the thicket.

When he emerged holding it, the crowd went wild as sweat dripped from his forehead as more residents mobbed around him for more pictures and selfies.

“To capture it, I first hold the tail. I then hold aim for the head and grab it. With the tail and head captured, it cannot resist,” Kimani, whose dream is to become a warden, explains.

Earlier this year, he captured another snake in his Kadundu village and in June, he travelled on a motorcycle for over 10kms, holding an eight-foot python near Vidhu Ramji in Murang’a town.

He separately presented the snakes to KWS’ offices in Murang’a.

Kimani’s aspirations

Kimani notes that in most African folklore, snakes are associated with evil mystical powers of wizards and witches. But he is out to demystify this notion.

“No one in the family does this. The reason why I do it is I do not like seeing residents killing wild animals. If there is an opportunity anywhere to work with snakes, I would love to be considered. I would want to impart knowledge on the role of snakes in the ecosystem,” he says.

He adds that he would like to be trained on the reptiles’ behaviour and how to handle them better. He is also seeking to acquire modern snake-handling equipment.

Resident John Kamau says villagers had never seen such a daring, young man.

“We were a very worried lot but we can now sleep easy as the brave young man caught the snake,” Mr Kamau says, adding the wouldn’t dare try to catch one.

Experts say some parts of Maragua and Kiharu constituency have many  python snakes.

Mr Antony Maina, county officer of the National Museum of Kenya, called for collaboration with the KWS in building a snake sanctuary for people to visit instead of having to travel all the way to Nairobi.

Mr David Kones, the county KWS officer, hailed the young man and urged the people not to kill wild animals but to call them for proper capturing.

While noting increasing cases of human-wildlife conflict in Murang’a, he also asked them not to destroy forest fences.