Adults are uniformly dark grey-brown dorsally, with slightly lighter lower flanks.

The throat is also dark brown with occasional lighter individual ventral scales, whereas the rest of the ventral side is cream with dark grey-brown mottling.

Juveniles are grey with a black head and neck, and often carry a light blotch on the back of the hood.

Size: a large, robust cobra, maximum recorded total length 245 cm.

[2] West Africa: documented from Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, Niger and Nigeria.