[PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern Cape

Accounts and photos of non-captive reptiles in their natural habitat in South Africa. Try to record with your account details such as time of day/night, temperature, weather conditions, lunar cycle, sex, rough age of reptile, and so on.

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[PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern Cape

Postby Fooble » Wed Apr 22, 2015 8:10 pm

So I resigned from my job (with a new one already lined up), with 10 days to kill. Arranged with two of my best mates and we headed out on a road trip.
These type of trips can usually go either way, really great or you can get on each others backs which doesn't make for a pleasant time. Thankfully none of us were new how these trips worked so we have a dam good time. Of course there are a few species which i didn't photograph, a few lizards here and there as well as a couple of Cape Cobra's that shot across the road before i could even slam on breaks.

At some point in the early morning we departed Durban, through the Eastern Cape and Western Cape and everywhere in between in 7 days this is what we got up to:
Three provinces
4000kms Traveled
7.2 tanks of petrol
22 Petrol stations breaks
8 1/2 Pizza's

Here are some of the pictures of what we saw:

Species List: *Lifers
Acontias melagris - Cape Legless Skink.
Afroedura Karroica - Karoo Flat gecko.
Agama atra - Southern Rock Agama.
Varanus albigularis - Rock monitor
Amietophrynus rangeri - Raucous toad.
Aspidelaps lubricus - Coral Snake.
Bitis arietans - Puff Adder.
Bitis caudalis - Horned Adder
Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake.
Bradypodion damaranum - Knysna dwarf Chameleon.
Bufo gariepensis - Karoo Toad.
Causus rhombeatus - Rhombic Night adder
Chersina angulata - Angulate tortoise.
Chondrodactylus angulifer angulifer - Common Ground Gecko*
Chondrodactylus bibroni - Bibrons Gecko.
Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia - Herald Snake.
Dispholidus typus - BoomSlang.
Duberria lutrix - Common Slug Eater.
Goggia lineata - Striped Dwarf Leaf Toed Gecko
Homopus areolatus - Common Pad Loper ( Parrot Beaked)*
Karusasaurus polyzonus - Karoo Karusa Lizard.
Lamprophis guttatus - Spotted Rock Snake.
Lycodonomorphus rufulus - Common Brown Water Snake.
Lycodonomorphus inornatus - Olive Ground Snake.
Naja nivea - Cape Cobra.
Pachydactylus capensis - Cape Gecko*
Pachydactylus geitje - Ocellated Gecko
Pachydactylus mariquensis - Quartz Gecko.
Pachydactylus purcelli -Purcell's Gecko*
Psammophis notostictus - Karoo whip snake
Pelomedusa subrufa - Marsh terrapin.
Psammobates tentorius tentorius - Tent Tortoise*
Pseudocordylus microlepidotus fasciatus - Karoo Crag Lizard.
Stigmochelys pardalis - Leopard tortoise
Strongylopus grayii - Gray's Clicking Stream Frog.
Tetradactylus seps - Short Legged Seps.
Trachylepis capensis - Cape Skink.



Eastern Cape.
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Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - Graafreniet. The first species of the trip.
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Pseudocordylus microlepidotus fasciatus - Karoo Crag Lizard
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Valley Of Desolation - Graaff Reinet
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Searching for Flat Geckos
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Afroedura Karroica - Karoo Flat gecko - Graafreniet
As the name suggests they are extremely. well flat!
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Afroedura Karroica - Karoo Flat gecko - Habitat
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Varanus albigularis - Rock monitor
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Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - Graafreniet
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Long Straight empty roads.
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Gary with a decent sized Leopard Tortoise.
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Dispholidus typus - Boomslang , Beervleidam.
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Pelomedusa subrufa - Marsh terrapin.
Of course I made Gary picked it up as you can tell a bad idea.
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Habitat
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Cordylus - cordylus - Cape Girlded Lizard.
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Just before the Western Cape Border, First Leopard Tortoise of the trip.
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Welcome
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Acontias melagris- Cape Leggless Skink.
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Saasveld - George
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Bradypodion damaranum - Knysna Dwarf Chameleon - George.
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Indicative of Size.
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Causus rhombeatus - Rhombic Night adder.
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Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia - Herald Snake.
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Duberria lutrix - Common Slug Eater.
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Tetradactylus - seps- Short Legged Seps.
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Lycodonomorphus rufulus - Common Brown Water Snake.
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Amietophrynus rangeri - Raucous toad.
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Strongylopus grayii - Gray's Clicking Stream Frog. George
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Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
BY far the most common tortoise of the trip.
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Cordylus cordylus - Cape Girlded Lizard.
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Swartberg Pass - Western Cape
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Print Albert
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Hatchling Leopard Tortoise.
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We spent A LOT of time doing this
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Bitis caudalis - Horned Adder (One of several)
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Looking at this
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Chondrodactylus angulifer angulifer - Common Ground Gecko. Prince Albert
Male
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Female
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Male
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Chondrodactylus bibronii - Bibrons Gecko, Prince Albert.
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Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
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Merewville
On the main street
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Where everything close before 6pm
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Psammobates tentorius tentorius - Common Tent Tortoise
Whilst road cruising i spotted this "rock" on the opposite side of the road, my fellow occupants dismissed it as nothing. Made a quick U-Turn and what do we have here. Unusual for a tortoise to be sitting on warm road at 20:15pm we thought.
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The "lush" habitat of the Tent Tortoise
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No place for a Tortoise
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When you see it.
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Passing a lot of these
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Karoo Lamb
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Bitis arietans - Puff Adder, Outdshoorn
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Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
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Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - Oudtshoorn.
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Aspidelaps lubricus - Coral Snake. Oudtshoorn
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Goggia lineata - Striped Dwarf Leaf Toed Gecko.
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Bufo gariepensis - Karoo Toad
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Homopus - areolatus - Common Pad Loper(Parrot Beaked)
First find, no one was home in this shell.
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We stayed in some pretty fancy accommodation
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Naja nivea - Cape Cobra.
Speckled Cape Cobra.
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Dark Cobra
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Hatchling
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Rian and Gary for scale of hatchling.
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Pseudocordylus microlepidotus microlepidotus - Karoo Crag Lizard
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Rian photographing specimen in the Swartberg.
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Pachydactylus capensis - Cape Gecko
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Pachydactylus geitje - Ocellated Gecko
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Pachydactylus mariquensis - Quartz Gecko.
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Pachydactylus purcelli -Purcell's Gecko
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Agama atra - Southern Rock Agama
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Skelmdraai
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Way too many of these
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Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
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Mossel Bay.
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Grasslands
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Rian with a Cape Skink
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Trachylepis capensis - Cape Skink.
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Stigmochelys pardalis - Leopard tortoise
Thsi time of the year there were plenty of hatchlings.
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Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - MosselBay
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Karoo Whip Snake
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Lamprophis guttatus - Spotted Rock Snake
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The sort of photo's that make road trips.
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Thanks for looking!
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby reptile » Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:11 pm

Og golly goodness gracious me.... Schucks. Super cool post, inds and photography! Well done :smt023 ! Thanks for putting in all the effort with the pics... :D
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby Kakibos » Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:26 pm

What a cool post this is! Man that first capie, the speckled one is just insane!!!
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby Saurian » Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:38 pm

Absolutely brilliant! Love the images. :D

Love the bibrons gecko and slug eater.

How did you find the slug eater? I have never found one?
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby Fooble » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:53 am

Saurian wrote:Absolutely brilliant! Love the images. :D

Love the bibrons gecko and slug eater.

How did you find the slug eater? I have never found one?



Thanks! Slug eaters are really common throughout the Western cape you really have to try hard not to find them :lol:
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby Fooble » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:54 am

Kakibos wrote:What a cool post this is! Man that first capie, the speckled one is just insane!!!


Thanks Kakibos! it's amazing how the Cape Cobra's vary in a single region. Such fun snakes to photograph.
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby Fooble » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:55 am

reptile wrote:Og golly goodness gracious me.... Schucks. Super cool post, inds and photography! Well done :smt023 ! Thanks for putting in all the effort with the pics... :D


Thanks! Glad you appreciate
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby Mitton » Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:19 am

Very nice man, looks like you guys had a great time and some nice finds.
Thanks for sharing.
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby Westley Price » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:06 am

Wow, for a week's herping, that's not shabby man, Well done!

The variety of geckos and Spotted Rock Snake are my highlights!

Did you write the "Ek lief Stephan" on the Skelmdraai sign? :smt008
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby rolandslf » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:08 am

Thanks Big T. Looks like a good time was had by all.
Pity there were so many Road Kills though.
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby jka » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:16 am

What a great trip to kick off the new beginnings.

That tent tortoise was my highlight of the trip and ofcourse the Merweville group photo.
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby scalybunni » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:23 am

These photos are incredible. It seems like you guys had a heck of a time. No wonder my boyfriend was so smelly when you returned him to me. Did you try see how many times you can flip the bird throughout the trip though?

I haven't even seen that many herps in my lifetime and you guys found all of this in one trip.Had I found that Spotted Rock Snake it would have been considered a lifer.
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby Fooble » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:37 am

Westley Price wrote:Did you write the "Ek lief Stephan" on the Skelmdraai sign? :smt008


Nah that was Rian :lol:

Cheers thanks man!
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby Fooble » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:38 am

rolandslf wrote:Thanks Big T. Looks like a good time was had by all.
Pity there were so many Road Kills though.


Thanks Roland! Those were probably 10% of the road kill we saw it's insane really.
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Re: [PHOTO HEAVY] Road Trip - The Karoo|Western|and|Eastern

Postby Nick Evans » Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:34 pm

Awesome finds, awesome pics. Good work Ping!
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