The Snake Man — Gado Safiu

At the hills of Mount Afadja (Afadjato), Liati Soba in the Afadjato South District in the Volta Region, fear slithers into fascination.

Here, amid forested paths and low village homes, lives a man who has spent about three decades calmly negotiating peace between humans and some of nature’s most misunderstood creatures.

His name is Gado Safiu — Manager of the Zimmaziwo Snake Zoo and Herbal Medicine centre, popularly known as the Snake Village.

Gado’s journey with snakes began in 1982 when he dared to catch snakes for a foreigner, then a stranger in his village, who offered cash to anyone bold enough to catch live snakes for him.

Gado accepted the challenge and succeeded.

What followed was an apprenticeship that would redefine his life. 

The foreigner took him on as an assistant and trained him in herpetology, teaching him snake behaviour, safe handling, egg harvesting, venom extraction and the traditional uses of snake bones.
That hands-on education he earned, laid the foundation for what would become the Zimmaziwo Snake Zoo.

Since 1996, Gado has remained rooted in Liati Soba, steadily building knowledge, trust, and a local institution that now draws visitors from across Ghana and beyond.

Ask Gado what people get wrong about snakes, and he doesn’t hesitate. Snakes, he says, are friendly, wild and poisonous, but not malicious. 

They do not hunt humans.

They react. Panic, he insists, is the real danger.

“Humans are more dangerous than snakes,” he often explains, noting that most snake attacks occur when the animal senses a threat.

 His advice is simple: don’t provoke, don’t panic, and respect space. In a world of myths and horror stories, Gado’s calm certainty is radical.

The Zimmaziwo Snake Zoo is home to an impressive range of species, including ball pythons, cobras, mambas and vipers.

Unlike the distant, glasswalled or caged experience of conventional zoos, a visit here is intimate and instructive.

Under supervision, visitors can observe, and for the courageous, physically engage with live snakes. 

Those who are daring enough can touch, hold, and even have certain snakes gently draped around their necks, learning firsthand how they move, how they sense danger, and how they coexist with people who understand them.

Gado has worked with the local assembly and community stakeholders to develop the snake village into a stronger tourist destination to complement the region’s eco tourism appeal

Aside from his expertise in snakes, Gado is also a respected herbal practitioner, a skill he traces to lessons learned from his grandparents in Benin.

Through herbal medicine, he claims to treat conditions such as stroke, high blood pressure, infertility and diabetes.

In Liati Soba, this dual identity—snake man and healer—commands respect.

Born on January 1, 1959, the 67-year-old Gado Safiu’s vitality suggests otherwise.

Married with three children—two daughters and a son—he is already training the next generation in the work that has defined his life.