THE INDEPENDENT (Johannesburg, S Africa) 05 October 09 Snakes 'n' adders anyone? (Lara de Matos)

His greatest fear in life is the prospect of drowning. Given the large number of people who share a similar phobia of a painful and watery death, this, in itself, is hardly what you would deem noteworthy.

Throw in the fact that the chap to whom I refer happens to be Austin Stevens, however, and it's likely your perspective on such a statement will shift dramatically.

This is, after all, the same man who openly declares "once you've held a snake and put it around your neck, it changes your life" and who subsequently has dedicated his days to the study of the slithering, fork-tongued species, which usually leave the rest of us recoiling in horror.

That he feels an affinity with the cobra clan, black mamba mamas, big-mouthed boa constrictors and their reptilian ilk should leave little doubt that Stevens is only too happy to get up close and personal with the creatures, especially when doing so in the name of educating his television audience.

Hence, many people have taken to hailing this South African-born herpetologist, photographer and documentarian (who is aptly dubbed The Snake Master) as the next Steve Irwin.

But as anyone who had bothered to do their wildlife homework would know, such a likening is something of a slap in Stevens's award-winning face, given that the guy's been around for a good decade longer than the former barmy Australian.

Not that he is particularly perturbed about the suggested correlation.

"It doesn't worry me at all," he states across the telephone line.

"As they say, all publicity is good publicity, and if some of the publicity Steve was getting comes my way, I think it's great because, ultimately, we wildlife lovers are in this together and we're all trying to get the same message out there."

Said message involves guiding humans to a far better understanding of their fellow earthly dwellers as well as their natural habitats, and, in so doing, hopefully draw awareness to the plight of the endangered.

One Irwin comparison-cum-criticism that does get Austin's goat though, is that which sees him being accused of attention-seeking antics while on camera.

"There are some who say I'm just showing off and in doing what I do, the way I do it, I'm encouraging viewers to also get that close to snakes or other animals," he explains, with a distinct tone of discontent to his voice.

"But I always emphasise that I'm a professional. And I have to get in close, because I can't really educate the audience and help them to better understand and better appreciate reptiles if I'm standing metres away from them, just pointing toward them."

And before the posse of pot-stirrers jumps on the anti-patriotism bandwagon by labelling Stevens a traitor to his home country, his sole reason for having taken up residence in Namibia some 20-odd years ago was purely because of what he describes as "being gradually crowded out" on South African soil, "which meant I had to increasingly trek further and further away, just to get one decent shot where I wasn't surrounded by people at every turn".

"In Swakopmund, I literally step straight out of my door and into the desert."

Over the course of his work (as with the impending Austin Stevens Adventures), he has increasingly come face to face with an altogether different form of species as well, namely, that of the four-legged kind.

"It's an experience which he finds "daunting, because (unlike reptiles) I am completely at the mercy of these big animals, I can't control them".

Needless to say, from the moment he captured his first "specimen" at the age of 12 ,while playing on the outskirts of his Pretoria home, snakes have taken pride of place in his heart.

And not even a near-death encounter with a green anaconda in the Amazon (which saw the huge creature wrap itself around Stevens and drag him down into the water while he was busy filming a sequence for one of his doccies) can deter him from his craft.

Well Austin, much rather you than me.
Snakes 'n' adders anyone?

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