A jogger at a popular beach in South Africa had a rare encounter with a dangerous reptile. A 9-foot highly venomous black mamba snake was spotted cooling off at the Scottsburgh beach not far from a sea-facing hotel on Thursday evening, reports NDTV.

Two hotel guests who were headed for an evening swim alerted local snake catchers about the mamba sighting. According to the snake catcher, it was the first time a black mamba was captured on a beach. He said it was possible the serpent approached the shore to cool down in the hot weather or have a drink of salty water.

‘When I tried to catch the snake, I noticed a lot of water coming out of its mouth so it may have swallowed quite a bit of sea water,’ said Crocworld Conservation Centre’s manager Martin Rodrigues who eventually captured the snake.

The black mamba, known as ‘Africa’s most feared snake’, was safely captured by the snake catcher. The video of the rare occurrence was recorded by a hotel guest.

Video shows snake catcher Martin Rodrigeus calmly capturing the black mamba with the help of two tongs and placing it inside a container.

The reptile was taken to the Crocworld Conservation Centre, where it was measured, examined and released back into a safe habitat.

The snake catcher warned people to be vigilant of their surroundings even though human encounters with snake are ‘few and far between’.