Most people would give snakes 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. 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.

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.

 

"Around 12 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. We then decided to build a covered snake arena on site so that school groups could come to us and that's how Snakes Downunder started." 

In January 2007  Snakes Downunder expanded to become a Reptile Park including the addition of two adult saltwater crocodiles, freshwater crocodiles and other Australian Reptiles. There are other many other displays featuring lizards, monitors, dragons and turtles in their natural environment, a walk-through tropical vivarium with more dragons and many frog species.

Each day there are two different shows where the snakes are handled and presented up close and personal in the arena as well as a crocodile enclosure where the public can watch the show in complete safety while being within metres of the action.