Most people actively try to avoid crossing paths with a snake, but two wildlife ecologists have travelled thousands of kilometres to outback South Australia to come face to face with the world's most venomous.

On what was to be the last day of a trip in search of the inland taipan, Ryan Francis from Tasmania and David Nixon from the United Kingdom hopped into their four-wheel drive and started circling the dry, arid land known as Moon Plain.

The inland taipan has mythical status because of the remoteness of its habitat, and the added challenge that it lives and hunts for its prey in deep, cracked clay.

Moon Plain in remote South Australia is one of the areas home to the inland taipan. ( Supplied: Ryan Francis )

For Mr Francis, a fascination with the snake began when he was working in far north-western Queensland as an environmental consultant to mining companies.

He had heard of nearby sightings, and in his free time would drive for hours in the area of the sightings — never spotting one.

It inspired his latest trip in search for the elusive reptile.

"We drove non-stop for three days — morning, afternoon and night — hoping to come across one," Mr Francis said.

"It is very difficult to find, I know people who have done dozens of trips and tens of thousands of kilometres looking for them."

He was joined by Mr Nixon, a snake catcher who worked in Papua New Guinea and took leave to travel with Mr Francis.

The pair headed to Moon Plain, east of the opal mining town of Coober Pedy and west of Lake Eyre, and some of the most desolate country in Australia.

There the temperature can reach 30 degrees Celsius by 9:00am in summer. It topped 46C in January.

"The conversation between us was pretty grim, thinking we might not get one," Mr Francis said.

Eyes fixed on the road and scouring the "nothingness" of the rocky surface, the pair were about to pack up and head home when Mr Francis spotted the reptile about 20 metres off the road.

"We'd given up hope by that stage so it was quite a sight to see it sitting there on the side of the road in the sun," he said.

"We were ecstatic.

"I couldn't believe it was real after well over a thousand kilometres of driving up and down seeing nothing, just rocks and dirt. It was quite incredible."

The inland taipan lives and hunts in the cracks of dry clay on some of the harshest country on earth. ( Supplied: Ryan Francis )

They spent about 15 minutes in the company of the snake, switching between taking photos and watching its behaviour.

"It was being defensive," Mr Francis said.

"I wouldn't call it aggressive, but we were in its face and in its comfort zone. It didn't want us to be there."

Remote and elusive

The inland taipan is only found in this area of South Australia and in far western Queensland.

While the snake is difficult to find, a reptile expert from the Australian Museum, Stephen Mahony, said it was not considered a threatened species.

"It's a species that's sufficiently common within its environment and it's not being impacted," he said.

"It's been considered special by a lot of herpetologists like myself because it's had the highest venom toxicity in tests against mice."

The inland taipan is considered the most venomous snake in the world. ( Supplied: Ryan Francis )

"This creates a lot of mystery because this is a snake living out in the middle of nowhere that hardly any people see, and here it is talked about as the most venomous snake on the planet.

"There are no big animals out there.

"Snakes develop their venom for their prey and their prey is little rodents — long-haired rats and sometimes other Australian mammals that are about the size of a mouse.

"Its toxin is perfectly developed for them, which might partially explain why it's got such a high effectiveness of its venom when we use it in tests on mice."

Mr Francis and Mr Nixon spent days looking for the illusive inland taipan in central Australia. ( Supplied: Ryan Francis )

In 2016, it was widely reported that a man from Ballarat was bitten by a captive inland taipan and survived after medical treatment.

When the late Steve Irwin encountered one in the wild, he got down on the ground and coaxed the snake to him, eventually letting its tongue touch his face.

Mr Francis, who has travelled extensively to photograph Australian snakes, said they were portrayed in an unfavourable light.

"Snakes really are defensive, they aren't out there to get someone. They're just trying to protect themselves in every case," he said.