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.
Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - Graafreniet. The first species of the trip.
Pseudocordylus microlepidotus fasciatus - Karoo Crag Lizard
Valley Of Desolation - Graaff Reinet
Searching for Flat Geckos
Afroedura Karroica - Karoo Flat gecko - Graafreniet
As the name suggests they are extremely. well flat!
Afroedura Karroica - Karoo Flat gecko - Habitat
Varanus albigularis - Rock monitor
Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - Graafreniet
Long Straight empty roads.
Gary with a decent sized Leopard Tortoise.
Dispholidus typus - Boomslang , Beervleidam.
Pelomedusa subrufa - Marsh terrapin.
Of course I made Gary picked it up as you can tell a bad idea.
Habitat
Cordylus - cordylus - Cape Girlded Lizard.
Just before the Western Cape Border, First Leopard Tortoise of the trip.
Welcome
Acontias melagris- Cape Leggless Skink.
Saasveld - George
Bradypodion damaranum - Knysna Dwarf Chameleon - George.
Indicative of Size.
Causus rhombeatus - Rhombic Night adder.
Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia - Herald Snake.
Duberria lutrix - Common Slug Eater.
Tetradactylus - seps- Short Legged Seps.
Lycodonomorphus rufulus - Common Brown Water Snake.
Amietophrynus rangeri - Raucous toad.
Strongylopus grayii - Gray's Clicking Stream Frog. George
Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
BY far the most common tortoise of the trip.
Cordylus cordylus - Cape Girlded Lizard.
Swartberg Pass - Western Cape
Print Albert
Hatchling Leopard Tortoise.
We spent A LOT of time doing this
Bitis caudalis - Horned Adder (One of several)
Looking at this
Chondrodactylus angulifer angulifer - Common Ground Gecko. Prince Albert
Male
Female
Male
Chondrodactylus bibronii - Bibrons Gecko, Prince Albert.
Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
Merewville
On the main street
Where everything close before 6pm
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.
The "lush" habitat of the Tent Tortoise
No place for a Tortoise
When you see it.
Passing a lot of these
Karoo Lamb
Bitis arietans - Puff Adder, Outdshoorn
Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - Oudtshoorn.
Aspidelaps lubricus - Coral Snake. Oudtshoorn
Goggia lineata - Striped Dwarf Leaf Toed Gecko.
Bufo gariepensis - Karoo Toad
Homopus - areolatus - Common Pad Loper(Parrot Beaked)
First find, no one was home in this shell.
We stayed in some pretty fancy accommodation
Naja nivea - Cape Cobra.
Speckled Cape Cobra.
Dark Cobra
Hatchling
Rian and Gary for scale of hatchling.
Pseudocordylus microlepidotus microlepidotus - Karoo Crag Lizard
Rian photographing specimen in the Swartberg.
Pachydactylus capensis - Cape Gecko
Pachydactylus geitje - Ocellated Gecko
Pachydactylus mariquensis - Quartz Gecko.
Pachydactylus purcelli -Purcell's Gecko
Agama atra - Southern Rock Agama
Skelmdraai
Way too many of these
Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
Mossel Bay.
Grasslands
Rian with a Cape Skink
Trachylepis capensis - Cape Skink.
Stigmochelys pardalis - Leopard tortoise
Thsi time of the year there were plenty of hatchlings.
Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - MosselBay
Karoo Whip Snake
Lamprophis guttatus - Spotted Rock Snake
The sort of photo's that make road trips.
Thanks for looking!