Afrotyphlops schlegelii
Silhouette: Jessica Tingle · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Afrotyphlops schlegelii, commonly known as Schlegel's beaked blind snake or Schlegel's giant blind snake, is a species of snake in the family Typhlopidae. The species is endemic to eastern and southern Africa, and bears the distinction of being the world's largest typhlopid. It is harmless to humans and lives exclusively on a diet of termites.
The specific name, schlegelii, is in honor of German herpetologist Hermann Schlegel. A. schlegelii is found in Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, southern Mozambique, northern Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, southern Sudan, Tanzania, northern Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Three distinct color phases of A. schlegelii are found: uniform, blotched, or striped. Uniform phase specimens are black to brown dorsally, straw-colored ventrally. Blotched phase individuals have black to dark brown irregular blotches dorsally, and are yellow-green to yellow ventrally and on the sides.
The striped phase results from each scale being edged with black. These black lines merge with age. The maximum recorded snout-vent length (SVL) is 95 cm (37+3⁄8... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
No species of the same family or order lives in iSimangaliso Wetland Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other reptiles.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Peter's Giant Blind Snake sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 38th most-seen of the 43 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October to February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Peter's Giant Blind Snake in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in March to September, the lowest months.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Peter's Giant Blind Snake sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Peter's Giant Blind Snake sightings, iSimangaliso Wetland Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Kruger National Park (South Africa, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Peter's Giant Blind Snake is recorded against all the reptiles logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (6 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
