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Umdloti-Based couple star in Snakes in the City, which slithers onto screens for a fourth season

Umdloti-Based couple star in Snakes in the City, which slithers onto screens for a fourth season

Date: 2017-09-28

Serpentine adventurers, Simon Keys and Siouxsie Gillett from Umdloti, will be returning to television screens this Monday at 6pm as Season 4 of their wildly exciting animal rescue show, Snakes City, which premieres in South Africa on NAT GEO Wild.

Audiences can look forward to another sensational season of daring snake rescues by the charismatic British couple who have found a home in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Simon and Siouxsie, were brought together by their passion for reptiles and conservation three years ago. Working at a Tropical Marine Centre, Simon had been breeding and importing snakes to the United Kingdom for 13 years but it was when a friend decided he didn't want his corn snake - which Simon happily homed - that his real passion for the animal grew.

"It started with just the one snake, and then I had a boa, some pythons, king cobras, spitting cobras, taipansat one stage I had 88 venomous snakes in my bedroom!" recalled Simon. With no professional training in the arena of snakes, Simon started reading up on the various species, gathering what is now his expert knowledge on snakes.

In 2005, he relocated to South Africa where he started a snake removal service, averaging about 90 call-outs a month - even up to 120 some months - but winter months were much quieter. This prompted Simon to look for alternative sources of income, which is when he made contact with Earth Touch.

"They shot a promo of me going to a spitting cobra call-out and the director felt that there was really something great that could come from these rescues," he explained.

After the first season, Simon and his wife, Nadine, who featured in the series initially, parted ways and Simon returned to the United Kingdom. He then applied for a position at a reptile shop owned by a herpetologist, Siouxsie, someone he'd known in the snake industry for 14 years. When Simon got the green light for Season 2 of Snakes in the City, Siouxsie starred alongside him.

The two now spend their time between South Africa - rescuing snakes in the spring and summer months - and the United Kingdom. Siouxsie said that one of the hardest parts about travelling between the two countries is leaving behind their beloved dogs and critters in the United Kingdom, cared for by Simon's dad. They have recently, 'scaled down' their menagerie, which includes two rescue dogs, 13 snakes, 20 arachnids, four meerkats, four bullfrogs, fish and a macaw.