2013 Weekend

First trip to the Limpopo bushveld.

Postby Durban Keeper » Mon Nov 11, 2013 7:49 am

Last weekend I flew up to JHB and drove up to Hoedspruit for a brief herping stint. Many of us had never visited this part of the country & did not quite know what to expect. Before I left I felt nervous as I always do before proper herping trips. Nervous because I'm excited & scared at the same time that the trip might disappoint. It's weird to explain, but in this instance this feeling was totally in vain... This was possibly the best trip of my life!

Before I get started I want to thank Mittone & his wife for putting me up for a couple nights in JHB & also Froot for getting us there & back in one piece!

The team Consisted out of Quinten, Eugene, Klein Louis, Groot Louis, Franscois, Andre, Alison & myself...
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The scenery was breath-taking!

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We found 18 snake species in total. Only 3 where DOR!

I've never been to excited about finding a wolf snake, however the ones from this locality are truly striking.

Lycophidion capense - Common Wolf Snake

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Dasypeltis scabra - Rhombic Egg Eater

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Gonionotophis nyassae - Black File Snake

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Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake

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Elapsoidea boulengeri - Boulenger's Garter Snake

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Megatyphlops schlegelii - Schlegel's beaked blind snake

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Leptotyphlops scutifrons - Peters Blind Snake

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Telescopus semiannulatus - Common Tiger Snake

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Lycodonomorphus rufulus - Brown water snake

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Atractaspis bibronii - Stiletto Snake

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Amblyodipsas polylepis - Common Purple Glossed Snake

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Dipsadoboa aulica - Marbled Tree Snake

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Psammophis subtaeniatus - Western Sand Snake

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Species not pictured include Herald snake, Bibrons blind snake, Mozambique spitter & Vine snake.

We also found a nice variety of Lizard & Gecko species.

A personal highlight for me was this Rock Monitor that bolted across the dirt road in front of our car.

The guys got stuck in removing ticks from its nostrils & ears, there where so many it must have had difficulty breathing!

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Alison then gave it a drink of water before we released him up a tree.

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Smaug vandami - Van Dam's Girdled Lizard.

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Trahylepis margaritifera - Rainbow Skink

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Pseudocordylus melanotus - Drakensberg Crag Lizard

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Chondrodactylus bibronii - Bibrons Gecko

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Lygodactylus ocellatus - Dwarf Spotted Gecko

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Homopholis walbergii - Whalberg's Velvet Gecko

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Scelotes bidigittatus - Lowveld Dwarf Burrowing Skink

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And lastly a couple amphibians also, most of which I never got around to photographing...

Amietia fuscigula - Cape River Frog

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Pyxicephalus edulis - Edible Bullfrog

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Breviceps adspersus - Bushveld Rain Frog

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All these gems in a mere 3 days! What a way to end the year!

Thanks for looking!
Dean
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Re: First trip to the Limpopo bushveld.

Postby froot » Mon Nov 11, 2013 8:11 am

Great shots dude, did you manage to get your memory card sorted out?
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Re: 2013 Weekend

Postby Durban Keeper » Mon Nov 11, 2013 1:59 pm

Thankfully I did yes! Used an image recovery program. A couple of these are retrieved images!
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Re: 2013 Weekend

Postby Nick Evans » Mon Nov 11, 2013 6:35 pm

Great photos Dean! Wish I could find that many species in 3 days! :lol:
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Re: 2013 Weekend

Postby Fooble » Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:24 pm

The Chondrodactylus would be Chondrodactylus turnerii Turners Thick Toed Gecko , Chondrodactylus bibronii is Western and Northern Cape.
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Re: 2013 Weekend

Postby Kev » Tue Nov 12, 2013 11:37 pm

Looks like you guys had an amazing trip.
I'm surprised at the rock monitor drinking from the bottle like that...Really was its luck day.
Great pics as always. Thanks for posting.
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