Safari in South Africa ends in nightmare: Cobra bites his pen!s

A safari trip through the South African savanna has turned into a complete nightmare for a Dutch holidaymaker. The 47-year-old tourist was bitten in the pen!s by a venomous cobra during a sanitary stop. The man needed emergency surgery after his genitals started to swell and smell bad. Without medical help, the Dutchman, who ended up in intensive care, may not have survived.

After the incident, the tourist had to wait at least three hours for a helicopter to take him to the nearest hospital, about 350 kilometers away. During the long wait, the victim experienced a burning sensation in his genitals and severe pain in his abdomen and chest. According to a medical report from the scientific Science Direct, the formerly ‘healthy tourist’ also had to vomit several times.

“His pen!s and scrotum were swollen, deep purple in color and hurt on hospitalization,” the report reads, which also includes offensive photos of the bite. The Dutchman suffered from scrotal necros, a potentially fatal condition caused by bacteria that infect tissue.

Known as “a flesh-eating disease that spreads rapidly,” the condition requires immediate treatment with antibiotics and a snake venom antiserum. If this is not done in time, body tissue threatens to die

First time

The rare condition affected the victim’s skin and semen, according to the report, and had to be excised by a plastic surgeon

. The Dutchman eventually stayed in hospital for nine days and then returned to his own country. Upon returning home, a Dutch doctor made a reconstruction of the affected organ and placed a groin graft over the pen!s. Kidney function gradually improved two weeks after repatriation, after which he was finally allowed to go home.

The patient made a full recovery after one year of rehabilitation. “After one year of follow-up, the wounds had healed well, and the pen!s’s sensation and function were fully restored,” the experts wrote. He must, however, witness the photos to live with the scars. According to the scientists, this is the first time that the condition has been diagnosed in someone in this way.

Exotic snake

The snake that bit the Dutchman is known as the snouted cobra (Naja Annulifera), a highly venomous species of cobra found in South Africa and parts of Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Adult specimens average between 1.2 and 1.8 meters in length. A bite directly affects breathing and, if left untreated, can lead to death.

Researchers responsible for the report wrote in conclusion: ‘Our take-home message? Always flush the toilet before sitting in countries notorious for their snake populations.’