Mbali Mtshali — Snakes In The City

what's your dream what's your goal what's your motivation what's important to you what's your passion what can you do to change the world this is what's involved conversations with thought leaders and change makers from around the world hear stories of hope and inspiration to help motivate people like you to live your life find your passion passion and live your dream together we can all bring positive change to our world now here's your host David Watts and once again it is another edition of what's involved I got a special guest for you this at this time and we were just talking just before we came on in I said to I'm gonna ask you if you nuts at some stage but before we get to that let me tell you who my guest is her name is Molly and Klotzi and she is the latest addition to the National Geographic series snakes in the city and I'm sure most of you most of you must must must know that Simon Keys and Susie Gillette they do this it's for National Geographic world and the city that they're talking about all these snakes is in the city of Durban so I'm really welcome it's so good to have you on the show thank you so much David thank you so much for having me so before I go into why on earth would you want to get involved with snakes in the city first tell me a little bit about in Bali give me some of your background well Bali is a South African one in bread one in Limpopo but grew up in Durban cause Luna tell I am actually fascinated by anything that leaves breeds and especially if there's some form of conservation awareness that can be done around that particular living creature I love bodybuilding I think it's actually my world revolves around it and yeah I just love education okay so now as a young son are growing up in in KZN I used to live many years ago the members of tote for a while and people in general are terrified of snakes and things that go bump in the night and I know particularly in African culture as well snakes done that yeah that pretty much the whole idea is good snake dead snake so what attracted you to to reptiles and living things I think what attracted me was actually realizing a gap using my own fears because I was highly petrified of snakes believe me I couldn't look at them and I couldn't think of a better snake than a dead one like you did mention especially because my gray knee has always been like my source of information yeah so growing up I was so that snakes are evil the RSI North bed omen they you know if you encounter one it means you're going to die so you don't even look them in the eye and when I got involved in conservation as a volunteer at this organization that I volunteered at I think it happened by default that I would have to actually learn about snakes and not only learn to actually better my knowledge around snakes because I didn't have any to begin with but I had to actually talk to people about snakes help them understand them in a sense that they not just living organisms but they have a road a very important one to play in our ecosystem and I just had to make people fall in love with snakes and if not fall in love with them I had to help people who are scared of snakes understand them better and learn why we need to respect them and play our role in conserving them as well okay well that that's understandable I'm gonna share story about my own in just a little while but before we get there did I hear you correctly you mentioned bodybuilding as well yes so so you if not only are you a crazy snake lady but you're also into the whole thing I'm just a crazy human being and I think it's so nice to be like a free-spirited person because you get to do the things that that feed your soul you more than anything so tell me not to do something and that's exactly what I might actually think of doing I've always found myself and I spotlights way by everything that I do is questioned and in addition to it I get told I'm crazy something is wrong with me and especially with bodybuilding it has always been seen as a spot for men and that women are not cut up for this and to make it even worse when I begin with my bodybuilding journey I had some of my peers telling me that I'll never make it because I'm vegetarian so that also gave me another reason to keep going hard at it just to prove to people that you don't need to be a certain way to achieve at something you just need to have like the right mindset and that will get you like all the way which is the same thing when it comes to snakes I'm African and even worse I'm a woman like who on earth would ever find snakes interesting and who on earth would actually want to change behaviors around snakes and all the myths that have been shared for so many years that no listen they are very important actually we need them more than they need us I'm sitting here and I'm smiling because I'm amazed when you talk about breaking the mold and everything you know it's like every as you said everything that's in and specifically in traditional African culture I mean a woman bodybuilder would be frowned on big time okay because that's not what women are supposed to do you've got a very very interesting dress sense I love it in one of the press photos you've got like the coolest what are they felt fellies that you that you've got on there I was trying to have a look it's one that they they've where is it now now come find it I was looking at it but they amazingly colored in fact you you fit right in with with with Suzy in them I think the only the only problem you might have is you don't have enough tattoos you know what Simon and Susie said they I like I've got four tattoos currently and Simon and Susie were like wow next time we get to see each other we're hoping to see with a long tattoo sleeve but to my advantage Simon is a good tattoo artist so maybe he's gonna put some ink on my arm and it's not just going to be a tattoo but there's going to be a very meaningful story behind it and I just love the fact that you say I fit in perfectly although fitting in has never been something that I've ever been missioned to do but what I love personally on a personal level about Suzy and Simon is that there's more to them than just their exterior like they don't care what they look like and that's something that we see in common get to know me as a person before you can actually make any judgment based on my exterior like my granny always said like you are going to get bored with me because everything I must like revisit has got to do with my granny she always told me you can have piercings all the way down to your toes as long as you're going to stay my lovable granddaughter that I've always known and that I brought you up to be always good with me so when the world actually poses judgment on me it's like it doesn't even make any sound hey because the person that I loved dearly actually gave me all the guidance that I could ever use even at this present moment when it comes to how I carry myself out and what makes me the person that I've chosen to be but that's that's what I think is so awesome and I often I often say to people you know celebrate your weirdness celebrate your strangeness people people like and I include myself in this what I love to call fringe dwellers we kind of live on the outsides of normal society and we peek in every now and again to see how the rest of the world are doing and I think they're fantastic it's it's the greatest thing to ever do also look when we come back I want to talk to you a little bit more about how you actually got involved with the guys from snakes in the city and and you know just a little bit of your experience with snakes I'll share one of mine as well which is also why I laugh when I talk to you this is what's involved my special guest is in Bali and Charlie we'll be back in just a little bit we'll be right back with more what's involved David would love to hear from you to leave a voice message visit what's involved comm and click drop me a voice note and we're back what's involved it is my special guest in Bali and Charlie am I getting the surname right because I generally in any interview I do I have to screw up at least once David I think that's the reason why I like you already because you know it's a tricking for me my best friend house lawns I used to call him tough lawns like we don't have such say names in in my culture my surname is actually spelled out as M T S H A L I which is basically pronounced as Charlie but please don't bite off your tongue because if you do we're not gonna be friends after this okay so I got them Charlie pot almost quick which is great now which is great and Bali just in terms of your journey you said you were volunteering at an organization but I believe you also ended up working at a at a reptile park tell me about that yes okay so basically when I was actually training to become a volunteer at this nonprofit organization I thought I would be actually focusing on teaching about conservation on other things and I didn't know that I would actually have to learn snakes and also preach snake conservation whenever I had to report for duty so that was 2012 and there is like a reptile section in the same facility we if you are lucky in a day you get like an hour shift whereby you have to be on the floor and help people overcome these years of snakes which doesn't which didn't only like require talking to them but sometimes if the snakes were alright by alright I mean they hadn't eaten in like a while because you don't want to like physically handle snakes that have just eaten it can be detrimental on them because they may want to regurgitate their food and that's can actually make them sick and some snakes can actually die if they get to regurgitate after they've eaten so at the facility we did we used to do like impromptu snake demonstrations whereby you take one out and you just walk up to people and you're like who wants to meet who wants to meet a snake today I have you ever touched a snake any idea what it feels like why you scared of snakes and you just kind of help them is they fears just by having a live snake in front of them if they want to touch they could if they want to hold it completely by themselves you could also allow for them to do that but obviously because you're not just proving a point but you are actually looking out for the animals welfare you wouldn't actually give a snake completely to somebody whom you feel is likely to actually get it fried and just drop the snake on the floor okay alright and then you sort of got to to like these slithery scary creatures I love them like is an understatement let me tell you my story okay so not not like yours at all but I was born and raised in Johannesburg and then okay later in life I moved to the low felt to pomolanga and he was involved in radio there and somebody at one state said have you ever thought about learning more about the province and being a tour guide so yeah okay and I came across some other people and they were involved in field garden Wow have you ever studied to be a field garden no but it sounds fun because when I moved there I was as number one good snake dead snake and number two kinds of birds okay you got doves and you got mossy it was the two kinds so this was like opening up a new world for me and I was fortunate enough I got to work with some of the top top people and eventually when I was going for my level three field guard certification that's part of that was snakes and snake handling and at this age I'd gotten to know a gentleman at the Swadini reptile park called Donald strata Donald's been on racial geographic before as well and I had to attend what was it three or four days of how to deal with snakes venomous snakes how to identify them what to use and I have to tell you I was petrified and I said quantuses and take them all out and shoot them and why not to learn about the role that snakes play and and the role they play in our environment and why they are there and and you know not that they're probably more scared of us than that then we are him but and I was a city boy suddenly going into into in Pumbalanga and in the low felt in the bush there's a lot of snakes there okay there's a lot all the time it's pretty much I guess like Robin we've got the we had a lot of the Mozambican spitting cobras there some places there's puff adders mumbers twig snakes which I we lived in a house where there was a creeper at the front of the house and there was a family a picked up twig snakes that lived in that little creeper and yeah I walked past four months without even knowing they were there and then one when I saw them I was like okay morning morning and a lot of people with would not know that then you know there's the spotted bush snakes it becomes absolutely fascinating so now you fell in love as you say how on earth did you get from from being somebody volunteering falling in love and and then suddenly you with you with Simon and Susie and and they're going okay well how about a spot for him Bali how's that work okay so basically you know it's been a crazy journey hey but as you say that one has got to like keep to what needs them feel like they are the most alive when I was volunteering at the red side at the reptile hog the greatest thing about volunteering and I know there's still a lot of people who look down on volunteers especially in South Africa unlike in other parts of the world that volunteering for status I'm not going to be long is seen as something that can only be done by people who might either not great at something or who might have like special needs where else you go to other parts of the world you learn that volunteers are respected because these are kind people who share their time without actually seeking an incentive but to actually promote you know goodwill so when I fell in love with the snakes from being scared what made me fall in love with them wasn't having touched this snake for the first time but it was actually learning they are important ecological role like how certain snakes eat red how some snakes eat birds how certain snakes eat frogs and you know I don't I don't think I would appreciate having a lot of rates in my space because you know they are good at destroying things they chew down cables they can eat your clothes and they can leave mites behind so if anyone can actually volunteer to eat a rat I don't think anyone of us humans would ever take up the job to eat a rat but snakes do that job voluntary for us and then the other one one of my answers petrified of frogs so if you don't appreciate frogs you must have a snake that's going to actually remove them for you so you can see they are they are good at many jobs and when you learn certain facts about animals I actually it's a feeling that you cannot actually you know avoid which is huh you guys are actually a lot cooler than us humans look at the amazing work that you do look how you actually keep the foodworm and food chains functional snakes just like any other creature they've got a role to play and ensuring that we don't have too much of this and too much of that because once there's too much of certain species than the other it means that the greater foodworm is actually left imbalanced and that's when problems can actually begin and then learning about snakes in the city it was through a friend of mine who mentored me through the whole thing his name is Kalsh Lambs and this guy is so amazing and well respected by a lot of snake handlers people who are in fishing because he's a good fisherman and he does conservation around anything and everything and one thing that I like about about him is that he's such a mentor in a sense that he doesn't keep to himself he wants for other people to actually make sense of living creatures and also advocate for them because that's how conservation gets to work if we're not communicating the stories about the creatures we're not doing conservation any justice so he actually obviously because he's popular he got a call from somebody from Earth Touch whom actually explained to him that he she was looking for somebody who could actually do snake work teaching people learn more about snakes and be involved in handling them here and there and I said okay where is this happening because you know I already have a full time job he says to me no valley it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and if I can just tell you more details about this it's not just someone that you're going to be shadowing but you're going to be working with Simon and Susie from snakes in the city and I'm like the national geographic wall the snakes in the city guys and he says yes it's those I was like oh my gosh what is expected of me and then he says to me well you just need to be yourself continue being the crazy person that we know for you to be and just fly the conservation black man learn as much as you can and then I'm like you're not laughing me he says no it's not April the first it's not April Fool's Day I am being serious so will you accept can I give you a number to this lady maybe she can phone you and from the first moment we spoke with the lady on the phone she was like oh my gosh can we do a video call cuz you can talk you've got a big mouth on you and I like that and I can just sense that everything that you've just said over this phone call now has got nothing to do with other things or being on TV but I can sense that you are strongly conservation driven and I think that's the that's the talents we've been hoping to get and then I did like an on-screen interview and she was like molly I'm going to be sending you the schedule so that you know when we start filming and I was like wow but I wasn't even that excited about being on TV it was actually knowing that I am going to be involved in a way with National Geographic and I'm going to be mentored by Simon and Susie for countless weeks because National Geographic will always be like you know my favorites I'm not big when it comes to watching you know scripted stuff I love like your real and raw content and I think National Geographic has been great at doing that not only do they promote what is happening around us or what kind of nature surrounds us but they are good at helping us build an emotional connection with the creatures and also understand the roles that each animal has got to play and they don't only make the animal look great or amazing but they look out for human beings as well no matter what kind of background you come from you can kind of reason and understand exactly why we need enough of these animals and why each creature needs to be conserved and not preserved because preserving is when it's already too late but when you are conserving you are actually helping for them to thrive and you create awareness around that animal whilst you're helping people to reason why they and why they need the respect that we should be giving them because if you think about it our planet is amazing and it can well self-sustain so it needs for us to look out for our planet and their resources because if you remove man when I say man I don't mean a male person I mean a human being so if you remove man from our planet everything can well function and self-sustain but once humans are involved our job shouldn't be to actually harm our environment it should be to actually protect it and nurture it and yeah that's basically what made me all excited about being part of snakes in the city yeah wonderful stuff my special guest is DiMali Mchali and we'll be back with DiMali in just a bit to find a little bit more because I'm fascinated I'm a huge fan of National Geographic National Geographic wild and I love watching snakes in the city because number one I can now appreciate the snakes but also these guys Simon she's you know what they're talking about in some of the situations so we'll get back and we'll talk a little bit about that this is what's involved hey like what you're hearing share the podcast with your family and friends and spread the word this is what's involved and we're back my special guest is DiMali Mchali and we're talking about snakes in the city she is the latest addition to the snakes in the city crew I'm amazed again to just put it out there Susie for example is allergic to Merzenbeek and Spitting Cobra Venom I mean she can't even it can't even touch her and yet she's out there she's doing it I mean it's absolutely amazing have you started you must have started filming you must have filmed couple because we are recording this on Independence Day so it's the 4th of July but we're having our chat and if I'm not mistaken the first episode with you in it goes this coming Wednesday night isn't it yes yes that's all these six of chocolate that's coming Wednesday the 6th of July on National Geographic World channel 182 on DSTV awesome so now tell me about filming take me through well first and foremost what was it like to actually meet Simon and Susie for the first time I was starstruck but I don't think they could actually see that because someone and Susie are such humble and relaxed individuals even if you feel like screaming like oh my gosh it just cannot happen because you know they are they are aura is just like out of this world so I was starstruck and I was like yeah guys how's it going and it's so funny because it felt like it actually met before we hadn't even been talking on the phone our first encounter was like so real what was amazing about them again apart from being humble is that they treat everybody the same and they just want for people to be great at whatever it is that they're doing like about my bodybuilding that's one of the things they actually brought up they were like oh my gosh you huge you're bigger than what we saw from the beach and then we connected on a personal level because this is his father was in still is in bodybuilding especially boxing and I already received a magazine that so this so this father Tony had signed especially for me yeah so it was amazing meeting them and it just made me know that I am here to learn and to be celebrated and to be supported more than anything which is quite amazing it was such a rare feeling well that's that is absolutely amazing and what a great story so now just take me through the first day that you guys were gonna go out and film because we see the finished product but we don't see everything that goes into this behind the scenes I mean it's not literally you know them just jumping in a car and off they go and then one two three and make us court and they all reggae and release it there must be yeah thank you so much for bringing that out because like I've been talking with my friends that if they see snakes they better make sure that when snakes in the city is filming they call because it's funny how we still call these behind the scenes stuff because you know because it's reality content or reality TV there is no staging there is no preps prior to each capture you receive a phone call and the person will be asked do you have a snake and they like yeah when last did you see it and they'll tell you what color was the snake how long was it how thick was it was it on the ground was it so the person will actually give you as much details as they possibly can can you still see the snake and if it's contained in a room then the person will be advised please shut the windows from the outside close the door and if you have a towel for example just make sure that you block the bottom of the door so that the snake stays contained do not approach it but keep an eye make sure that it does not disappear so we will then start driving after the person has sent us they are direct location we like you to have this amazing social media platforms these days whereby we can just see our current locations so we drive to the area obviously we'll be talking in the car if there's any pictures that the person has seen we can kind of make what kind of species we're going to be catching like for example if it's looks anything like a Mozambique spitting cobra obviously that's the part where Susie or the producer will be like okay it's just gonna be Simon and Simon and Bali on this one because it is Peter and if it's like for example say it's a black number then the pros the producer again will say okay this is gonna be Simon and Susie on this one button buddy I want you to be there you're going to shadow because for you to be able to catch anything that could be lethal you must have actually made sure that you've shadowed enough and you are certain of how you go about handling a snake on your own so that's about all the preparation they ever ease we don't ever like plan what's one is gonna say how one is gonna turn how one is gonna drop the snake when we are releasing it's you like you are just being natural and you have to ignore that there's a camera behind you or in front of you the only time you need to remember that there's a camera is when you are actually showing the audience what snake you had just caught because if you're gonna be clumsy about it like I did often enough then you are actually depriving the viewer an opportunity to get like a proper ID of the particular snake like for example it has been caught and now you are going to release it you cannot actually try recapturing that snake for the sake of making sure that when you release it it looks amazing it's a one soft thing and it's done and the behind the scenes and the behind the scenes the staff people whom have had the snakes in the city crew coming down to their dwellings to their households to remove snakes for them will tell you that nothing is ever prepped we just get there we do our business and we talk to the to the to the people and then we'll say our goodbyes and off we go if there's any behind the scenes they are it's the stuff that it's that doesn't get like featured in the episodes because obviously there's only so much time for airing but if it went full TV time I think you would get to see all the proceedings from when we get a phone call to when we look for the snake because sometimes you sit for like four hours and there's nothing sometimes you leave them there's no snake and you get called like a couple of days later and it may not even be the same household it might have moved to another house Wow it's absolutely fascinating and to be able to do something like that with camera crew and producers around you and Bali when we come back I want to I want to wrap up very very quickly with you and just find a little bit more about stakes in the city and what what in Bali is playing or doing we'll be back in just a bit this is what's involved my special guest is in Bali Mshali you're listening to what's involved with David Watts have you been to our website check it out www.what'sinvolved.com and while you're there click on the coffee mug icon and buy David a cup of coffee to love it and we're back with my special guest in Bali Mshali so Bali before I let you go I just need to find out what was two things that you need to tell me the most exciting thing that you've done whilst filming snakes in the city and also the scariest thing okay the most exciting thing that I did was filming snakes in the city was finally getting to catch my favorite snake obviously with guidance from Simon and Susie which I'm not going through this closing details about because you guys know that the show is going to be premiering on Wednesday so just sets a reminder on your TV if you must you know my favorite snake my favorite venomous snake I had never seen ever in the wild before snakes in the city happened so that was just amazing for me and then the most scariest that was the second question right yeah so the most scariest was when I had to catch a snake that I knew Simon had set me up for which I'm not gonna dwell much on and yeah the capture was successful and that's all I can say at this given moment wonderful you're on snakes in the city now and they obviously film it it's a seasonal thing so what's next now for Bali wait I mean there must be doors open for you cheese oh my gosh I think what is next on a personal side because I feel like conservation has got a way of opening doors for you it's so amazing when you do something that you love and something that you are highly passionate about and something that you are not lazy to you know use every opportunity that's given to tell the stories and creates as much awareness as possible that's why I feel people in conservation do not age look at Simon look at Susie they are in their late forties but they look as young is me if not even younger because they are they get to leave their patient on a daily and anything that makes you feel like you are the most alive I think it has a way of prolonging your your well-being or your life even so what is next on a personal point of view or personal side is I've always dreamed of having a nonprofit depression center because I feel like there's a lot of people in our not like in the globe who are just going through things but they find it difficult to even share with their friends whatever challenges they must be waking up every day to face depression is something that I feel a lot of people like or choose to turn a blind eye on and it's not I'm sorry to use this term but I'm going to use it because that's what most people would often say it's not a white man's disease or a white man's syndrome depression is real it's got to do with one's emotion emotional state and you know mental state of mind every one of us deserve to be heard if you are going through things and there isn't why I want to have a depression center is because I actually realized that there's a lot of young stars whom are challenged with depression but because they are so young they haven't even learned to actually exercise they speak and those that are brave or talkative like myself whenever they try to vent out about the emotions or whatever they get told or they love attention or they've been too much so I just before we can even discover what spots we are great at and what makes us amazing with everything that we get to face every day I just wish to wake up to a day where every individual young or small we actually feel like they are alive mentally first before they get to like you know deal with whatever work they've chosen to to practice on and yeah before they can even decide to make friends they must be alive and healthy on the mental side of things and then the other one is I think I want to fly the bodybuilding flag for South Africa whether I continue to do competitions or not because I did do a bodybuilding competition last year which was my first one and the National Geographic was so supportive when I was actually going through the journey of my bodybuilding so I want for more women especially to understand that sports are not for like a select few they are for any person whom is able in their life to actually participate on for me body building is not just a spot that I do because I want to look different or I want to be seen like I'm different from other women but it's something that I do because it feeds my mental state of my mental state and it's also a way of making sure that we look out for our health another thing those of you who are in sports you will know that how your body transforms or how your body changes over the years that you've been in sports form there is more that happens on the mental side of things it teaches you discipline and it also helps for you to know that the chickens are doing their own thing it also helps for you to learn that there's never so much of a task that you must face bodybuilding teaches one discipline that you have to finish what you've started that you are able and that you are going to be an inspiration even without choice because the more you get better at it the more people actually start to be brave instead of saying oh my gosh why must you have so much of piercings you are possessed with demons but it changes so oh my gosh I just love your body I don't care what your name is and I just want to say wow keep going you look amazing and that alone is one thing you always go back to whenever you feel like you must come up with excuses not to train because you know now what about the person who looks up to you as inspiration well Bali I've got to tell you number one you look stunning great as we discussed the tattoos but as you said during the stylist conversation that I've spent a little bit of time and we've gotten to know them Bali and I think that's amazing and I'm so happy that I got to talk to you and that you're doing what you're doing I love the idea about that center for for depression because I think after COVID we haven't even seen the mental effects yet and it's not as you say just a white man's disease I spoke openly about this I've I've suffered with depression and I used to be one of those people that used to say I just get over it man just pick yourself up it's nothing until I'm there myself and when you've been there and you know that dark place so I will say this to you when you get this right if you need any help give me a shot I'm there for you. Thank you so much and the feeling is quite mutual I'm so pleased to have met you and to have had this interview with you I've also been a well a victim of depression and this is why I I wish parents could actually treat their children as their best friends because when we get sent off to school parents have got no choice but to hope that we are being surrounded by positivity only even with the choices of friends that we make but how my depression actually started was when I began gaining a lot of weight and people stopped my peers stopped calling me nimbali they began calling me sthula lentil round which means you know fatty the one without a shape so they used to call me like that round thing and it just you know because I'm very loud and I'm bold a lot of people actually miss how it was affecting me mentally until I started telling my story then everybody was like oh my gosh we didn't know how much of an effect this could actually do to one so to the youngsters out there please treat other children with kindness if you are going to be saying things to other children make sure that they are the right things things that are gonna make you amazing friends and things that are gonna make other children tell their parents and say oh I may I met a David at school today and oh he just made me feel so good he said my shoelaces we've done nicely you understand not we shouldn't be saying things through our mouths that are to bring other drink down and to parents as well we have to learn to support our children I'm a mom of a cat but I'm sounding like I'm a mom of a human being so we have to like teach our children to be kind towards other children and that we shouldn't be using our children to compete with their parents because nowadays you find that people are not even interested to learn how amazing each individual child is it's a matter of knowing how amazing my child is well in Bali as I said it's amazing the message that you're giving out to two people is amazing I for one on waits to see you along with Simon and CZ because I think it's gonna be absolutely amazing he says as you mentioned earlier you're the mother of a cat did you see you guys that are you guys that are listening to this miss the wheel behind the scene stuff because I we have a cat well we've got a couple of kids but this one in particular loves being on video or on a podcast or an interview so she's got to make a plan and come in and there we go anyway you guys missed that picture it my special guest is Bali and Sally thank you so much for taking the time out in Bali and we do wish you all the best thank you so much David for having me and thank you so much for your time wonderful stuff there we go wraps it up for what's involved by special guest in Bali and Sally check it out national geographic wild snakes in the city coming up this Wednesday teaching every one of you look after yourselves take care and thank you for listening thanks for listening to what's involved we hope this episode inspires you to find your passion and live your dream don't forget to rate review and share the podcast and to see what's happening what's going on and what's coming follow what's involved on Facebook and Twitter and what's involved thanks again for listening