Adults of most populations have a brown forebody, gradually turning black towards the tail, often with spotting or mottling in the lighter parts.

Adults from the Lake Victoria area and parts of the Congo Basin are entirely black dorsally.

The sides and underside of the head are light, usually cream-coloured, and the labial scales have dark edges, although these can be indistinct in some populations.

Dorsals at midbody in 17 scale rows along the East African coast, 19 elsewhere.

[3] East and Central Africa, in forests, thickets, and mostly wooded environments in savannas: recorded from South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Angola, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad and probably Nigeria.