Did he survive the bite? If he did it must have been a dry bite where no venom was injected. In Kakamega forest in Kenya children are known to play with Gaboons - a very deadly snake, with the longest fangs of any snake and a venom that would make the devil proud, but relatively docile (if.you are willing to risk a big heavy venomous snake with one of the world’s fastest striking speeds, venom from hell and fangs out of a Dracula movie, that close to you). I’ll be very surprised if that guy survived a wet bite from an actual Gaboon. To be honest I would rather be bitten by a Black Mamba than a Gaboon viper, or any one of the other two African Bitis family vipers (the Puff Adder and the Rhinoceros Viper). Death from a Mamba bite is relatively ‘peaceful.’ The neurotoxic venom shuts down your nervous system, and you stop breathing and the diaphragm muscles relax. However, the cytotoxic and hemotoxic Gaboon venom will break down yourttissues, make you bleed like crazy, black urine, swollen up like a balloon, etc. I’ve seen the effects of a Puff Adder bite where a small graze on the finger led to it being amputated. A student who went to my primary school was killed by a Puff Adder - he used to keep snakes in Nairobi. Give me a Mamba anytime over a Bitis viper. Anytime.