The report below was originally posted on a global forum that I realize some of you might not frequent so I figured I'd post it here as well. It is, however, written for a non European public and as such certain details might seem redundant to you guys & the tone might at times seem a bit, well... quaint - for lack of a better word. My apologies, but I simply couldn't be bothered to edit it for another target group.
From July 7 through July 15 this year I went on holiday with my wife and kids to Malta. Our original plans were to go to either Albania or Sweden, but they fell apart for diverse reasons and when the concept of summer in Denmark by mid June still seemed but a distant memory my wife and daughter started pushing hard for us to go somewhere warm and sunny. I did a bit of searching and soon came up with cheap airfare for Malta. This seemed to strike just the right balance between the exotic and the conveniently easy that we bought the tickets in the blink of an eye, without any real idea of what we were in for. A little research soon revealed Malta to be a tiny (316 sq. km, 121 sq. miles) group of overpopulated (415.000 inhabitants), hot and arid rocks in the middle of nowhere infested with a ridiculous excess of cars... Sounds nice, eh
On the flipside, among other things the islands offer evidence of an intriguing history spanning from megalithic temples over biblical references to crusaders, pirates and much more as well as great beaches interspersed in an otherwise impressively rugged rocky coastline, and, of course, even a few animals. To make a long story short we had a very nice vacation, the medieval towns were fascinating, the coastline beautiful, the cakes tasty, and the kids enjoyed the beaches... And now, let's get on to the interesting part
As you would probably expect from such a small and isolated group of highly developed islands, the herpetofaunistic diversity is rather limited. Nonetheless about a dozen species have made the country their home, 7 of which would be lifers for me, so at least there was a little to look out for. The list, introduced and native species alike, is comprised of the following:
Discoglossus pictus
Pelophylax bedriagae
Trachemys scripta
Chamaeleo chamaeleon
Hemidactylus turcicus
Tarentola mauritanica
Podarcis filfolensis
Chalcides ocellatus
Hemorrhois algirus
Hierophis viridiflavus
Telescopus fallax
Zamenis situla
These are supplemented by the sea turtles (mainly Caretta caretta) that swim about in the surrounding Mediterranean waters though sadly they no longer breed on the islands.
The trip was, however, a family vacation, not a field trip. As the rest of my family (with the possible exception of my 3 year old) don't share my passion this meant that I had purposely refrained from seeking out knowledge of specific locations for interesting species to avoid getting tempted beyond my strength and leave my family behind. I knew I wouldn't be able to find much time for serious herping, least of all in the cooler hours of morning and evening. I had made up my mind, therefore, to be happy just to register what I came across by accident and had already resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't see any snakes.
I had made one exception to this selfless rule though, as I am truly fascinated by chameleons. With their myriad peculiar adaptations from eyes over tail, to feet, tongue, colour, and overall body shape they are to me the most intriguing of all lizards. Since the main island - Malta - is well known for its healthy population I simply had to locate one of these - or die looking . Thus I found - purely by coincidence - an apartment just 2 km away from possibly the best chameleon locality on the island. The location is in a national park immediately behind the most child friendly beach in the country so it should provide a good chance to wander off for a bit while the rest of the family were bathing.
We arrived in the middle of the night so the first day was reserved for relaxation near the apartment. We went to the beach in the morning and as predicted I found a little time to explore the hinterland. Alas, the national park was closed for the summer to protect the birds that, thanks to local hunting traditions that would be considered an outrage many other places in the world, truely could use a refuge. I hoped to find chameleons near the fenced off park, but didn't. I did come up with the first moorish gecko, Tarentola mauritanica, of the trip though and, subsequently, one live and one dead ocellated skink, Chalcides ocellatus. As I had read that these beautiful creatures were abundant on the islands, outnumbering all other reptiles, I didn't worry that I'd left the camera with my wife on the beach and just let the live one run away though it probably would have been easy to catch. I should have made an effort, though. Apparently, the skinks aren't altogether too fond of the heat so I only saw two more specimens during our stay, both of them in the cool of night. On neither of these occasions did I have my camera in hand either. One was peeping out from a stone wall where I had no chance of catching it and gone when I came back with my camera. The other so startled me when I found it at an unexpected location that I didn't think to make a move for it before it was too late. End result, no pictures . Maybe the wife and I should really have each our own camera
After a much needed siesta I enjoyed a cup of coffee in the shade on our wonderfully large terrace while glancing out at the azure bay. I was a little disappointed that the national park was closed and wondered whether I would get to see a chameleon elsewhere as I moved my eyes inland gazing emptily onto the vacant lot across the street.
Suddenly, fast as lightning I jumped over the wall and sped across the street in excitement to the fennel bushes lining the curb. I guess my family have long since grown accustomed to my antics but this must, nonetheless, have caught them at least slightly off guard. There, right in front of me, in plain view from our living room door sat my first mediterranean chameleon, Chamaeleo chamaeleon . Over the course of the week I found a total of four chameleons on the lot, kings of each their bush. I enjoyed following them throughout, active at day and sleeping at night. On two occasions I had the good fortune to see one of them catch a fly. The speed, reach and precision of that tongue is truely amazing . Apart from "my" four chameleons I found a fifth specimen just outside the national park.
Most days we would have dinner on the terrace with the chameleons in plain sight but this first evening we went out for dinner. Walking back from the restaurant we found numerous moorish geckos as well as a couple of turkish geckoes, Hemidactylus turcicus. I have no pictures of the turkish geckos either. The moorish geckos we would since find in large numbers everywhere on both Malta and Gozo, the second largest island of the Maltese archipelago.
The next day we went to the medieval town of Mdina. In the narrow streets inside its high walls I found my first specimen of the country's only endemic reptile, the maltese wall lizard, Podarcis filfolensis. As with the moorish geckos we would go on to find plenty of these small lacertids at a multitude of locations. They were highly variable in colour and, very slight in build, more distinct from the cogenerics I had previously encountered than I had anticipated. Unfortunately I only thought to document little of their impressive variability.
So, by now, on just the second day of our vacation I had already found all the lizard species of the country without even making much of an effort. In the end, I didn't get to see much more, just a few redear sliders, Trachemys scripta elegans, at a pond in an urban park and a shed skin of large western whip snake, Hierophis viridiflavus. Under the circumstances, I was pleased though. Having already written off snakes from the get go I really hadn't expected any more. The only slight disappointment - apart from the missing skink pictures - was not finding any painted frogs, Discoglossus pictus... But I'll get them some other time
For now, I'll leave you with a few miscellaneous pictures of landscapes, bugs, a sunset, a hand caught (spiny!) fish, etc.