The charming snakes of Morocco

The View from Fez has recently had a close encounter with a Moroccan snake. No, not the Naja haje ( Egyptian cobra ) that is so loved by snake-charmers, but a small, blind snake that was discovered inside an old beam being removed from our riad.

The snake, about one foot long (30 cm), metallic-grey, was, according to our builder, a baby and that we could expect the "mama" to be huge!

As if that was not enough, a few minutes later an elderly woman from down our derb (street), visited to ask for a bucket of sand in order to make cement. The reason? To block up a hole in a wall, through which a large three-and-a-half foot snake had emerged.

So, being intrepid snake-handlers, accustomed to the wonderful snakes of Australia, we set out in search of local information and folklore. Plenty of folklore - little information. Everyone appears to consider all snakes dangerous and ( so we are told) the Holy Koran instructs that all snakes should be killed - not a very Buddhist attitude, we thought!


Snakes have been a feature of the tourist trade in Morocco for as long as there have been tourists. Images of snake-charmers can be found in every stack of postcards and it is difficult to imagine a place such as Marrakeck without them.

Both Morocco and Tunisia possess a varied and fascinating herpetofauna. Unfortunately, in both countries, the first introduction to reptiles most visitors experience is when they encounter animals being offered for sale. Sometimes, reptiles are collected specifically for sale to tourists - this is a major problem, especially in Tunisia - but there are also many long-standing traditional forms of exploitation. But as to information about the native snakes - it seems hard to come by. If you have any information, we would love to know about snakes in general and our blind one in particular.

Snake Charmers

Snake-charming has, of a course, long been associated with Morocco and North Africa. The species most frequently employed are Egyptian cobras (Naja haje), vipers (Vipera lebetina) and the puff-adder (Bitis arietans). Snake charmers usually appear at the main open-air markets, or souks, and rapidly gather a large crowd. Contrary to popular belief, this is not usually an activity aimed primarily at tourists, except in coastal resorts or in major tourist destinations.

Modern-day snake charmers usually employ a battery-operated public address system through which they exhort their audience to purchase small pamphlets containing magic formulae for protection from snake-bite or other magical charms. The audience is regularly challenged to step forward and approach the snakes; "25 Dirhams if anyone dares to touch these dangerous snakes!". Despite 25 Dirhams (approximately $3) being equivalent to a day's wages for many, this offer is never taken up. More snakes are produced from a series of boxes or sacks, are roughly handled by the charmer and his family, and once again the effectiveness of the spells in the booklet being sold is loudly advertised. An assistant moves within the crowd gathering handfuls of money in exchange for the book.

Close examination of the snakes reveal the charmer's secret. The mouths of the snakes are carefully stitched closed with fine twine. Just enough of a gap is left to allow the snake's tongue to flicker though. As it is an almost universal belief that the venomous bite is delivered by the forked tongue, this deception is entirely effective. Snakes thus treated frequently develop fatal mouth infections, and are, of course, unable to feed. They survive long-enough to provide a good spectacle, however, and when obviously ill are disposed of and replaced by freshly caught specimens. - FOLKLORE, MYTH AND EXPLOITATION OF REPTILES IN MOROCCO AND TUNISIA - Andy C. Highfalutin and Jane R. Bailey (Visit website)

For those interested in the folklore and who read French may be interested in: Medicine, Magi et Circular's au Marco by Mustapha Akhmisse (1985).

Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news