In the middle of a small tin house in Namibia, the dog of German documentary filmmaker Andreas Kieling (63) suddenly started sniffing all the clothes on the floor.

In the seconds that followed, Kieling was able to spot a small black tail dodging under certain parts of the fabric, but it wasn’t just any kind of tail that had wandered into the filmmaker’s tiny cabin.

– When I picked it up, I said, “Oh, shit! A black mamba. That’s amazing,” Kieling said to the German PICTURE.

This would be the start of a very dramatic incident, as Kieling decided to take a selfie with the deadly mamba.

To show the dangerous fangs, the filmmaker had to use a stick to lift the snake’s mouth. But Kieling was not careful enough and was bitten on the left index finger by the deadly poison.

– I became paralyzed, my breathing almost stopped. I was lying there, hovering between life and death, and my guide’s wife gave me wet towels and sometimes mouth-to-mouth because I was choking, Kieling told the German newspaper.

Normally it only takes a few hours after a bite before risking a fatal outcome, but this time the 63-year-old was lucky and received only a small dose of the dangerous poison in his body. Which means Kieling survived and is now on the road to recovery.

“Poison is a potent, fast-acting nerve agent that paralyzes and can be fatal to humans,” he writes. Great Norwegian Lexicon on the black mamba.

The species is considered one of the most dangerous snakes in the world.