The Mozambique Spitting Cobra is a shiny, light to dark brown snake with black between the scales. The belly is salmon pink to yellow with a distinct dark band as well as dark blotching on the throat region.

The Rinkhals is a grey to black snake or banded with yellow or orange. They have black bellies with 1-2 (rarely 3)  white crossbars on the throat region. Their scales are keeled, giving them a rough appearance.

It’s easy to confuse a Mozambique Spitting Cobra with a Rinkhals. The graphics below illustrate how to recognize these key differences between the two species.