Most people would give these creatures a wide berth, but not Ian Jenkins. His fascination for snakes has led him to take on the challenge to dispel our fears from the myths.

Ian has been handling snakes for more than 40 years. He holds his father, David – a born and bred Welshman who moved to Kenya in the 1950s – responsible.

"Dad was a snake-lover. He always had snakes and while he was working helping African farmers with water erosion he had plenty of opportunity to catch them. It was just something I also found really, really interesting," explains Ian.

When Ian moved to Australia in 1980 he'd landed in snake heaven. He now had the opportunity to fulfil his lifelong dream and handle the world's most deadly snakes.

"Around 10 years ago I was asked to give a talk at a school in Bundaberg on snakes and really loved it so continued doing it around schools for a few years. I had to make the decision of what I wanted to do and that's how Snakes Downunder started. We built the snake arena and school groups could come to us."

Since then there's been a load of other additions at Snakes Downunder including the addition of two saltwater crocodiles and other Australian Reptiles. There are other displays featuring lizards, monitors, dragons and turtles, a walk-through tropical vivarium with more dragons, many frog species.

Each day there are shows where the snakes are handled and presented up close and personal in the arena.