Oman & UAE

For your reports/images, made outside Europe and the "Mediterranean" countries. Not to be too narrow minded and limited to our European/Mediterranean herps.

Re: Oman & UAE

Postby Thomas Bader » Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:55 pm

Yes, i contacted D. Egan and he answered me.
We visited oman in feb. No rain, and for us it was also mainly a gecko trip.
But with about 10 lytorhynchus, psammophis and rhodorachis some snakes were overrepresented. Only two echis and one spalerosophis.
Also our mountain trips were also not productive at all - the landscape was absolutely impressive!
Thomas Bader
 
Posts: 216
Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 7:32 am
Location: Vienna
Hometown: Vienna
country: Austria

Re: Oman & UAE

Postby Gabriel Martínez » Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:42 am

Jürgen Gebhart wrote:Gabri, I`m sorry, but I remember you right time wrong places! I heard a Story that a spanish-dutch Group found in one night 14 Snakes on the road incl. Eryx and Cerastes gasperetti a week before we arrived in east Oman! And some Kids and an old Bastard spend the time in the high cold mountains and wounder them selfs that they found nothing!


Yes, maybe you are right. There the weather conditions maybe are not so different to the mediterranean countries so probably also april-may is also good time for herping there. The rare thing is this: 14 snakes AOR and 15 days later 0 snakes in roads. Strange country climatology! Quite different to mediterranean basin
In high cold mountains we found both Omanosaura, a lot of Pristurus, Platyceps rhodorachis and Psammophis schokari actived during the day, so we had options for Pseudocerastes (just some days later the "spanish-dutch group" found 3!!!!!). The conditions in the evening were perfect and we were with a local person that had found some of these rare vipers there so the plan was perfect, probably the only wrong thing was the extreme rains of the days-weeks before

Thomas Bader wrote:We visited oman in feb. No rain, and for us it was also mainly a gecko trip.But with about 10 lytorhynchus, psammophis and rhodorachis some snakes were overrepresented. Only two echis and one spalerosophis.Also our mountain trips were also not productive at all - the landscape was absolutely impressive!


In my opinión, Oman is a gecko country so the most probably thing when you visit Oman is to find 15-30 geckos species and just 2-10 snake species.
Lytorhynchus is a very common species there, this is the cause because I think that something was wrong in our visit to the dunes (2 nights without any snake track instead of many mammals, geckos and invertebrates actived during the nights).
About mountain, I think february is very early there, and best moment maybe is may-july (I have not experience there, probably Egan knows better).
Yes, -with more or less herping- just to see the landscapes is recomendable to visit Akhdar! :)
User avatar
Gabriel Martínez
 
Posts: 436
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:24 pm
Hometown: Madrid
country: Spain

Re: Oman & UAE

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:05 am

Gabriel Martínez wrote:the "spanish-dutch group"

Is there anywhere where we can see their results?
Jeroen Speybroeck
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3161
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:18 am
Hometown: Merelbeke
country: Belgium

Re: Oman & UAE

Postby Gabriel Martínez » Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:37 am

Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:Is there anywhere where we can see their results?


No, sorry. These guys are working there for scientifical ends so at the moment all this info is confidential. I guess that probably they will publish this in future...

In october-september it will be available a new book of Chimaira about herps of Oman and UAE with distribution maps so all will be easier Jeroen ;) If I would need to return to Oman, I would visit it in october-november, when Dhofar tropical áreas are Green, snakes are actived in all Oman and temperature is not so high than in may (although Pseudocerastes occur in middle-high mountain, so to find it you must visit Oman in hottest days of the year)

@myself: I was not clear in the last message. Oman is a gecko country, not just about number os species, because the importance is not only the number of species, but also the densities. It is easy to find more than 300-500 geckos in a 10days trip! Hemidactylus, Ptyodactylus, Stenodactylus, Bunopus and specially Pristurus are in everywhere: dunes, bushes, rocks.... in mountain, in desert, houses, tropical áreas... awesome, I have never seen nothing like that with other herps group!!
User avatar
Gabriel Martínez
 
Posts: 436
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:24 pm
Hometown: Madrid
country: Spain

Re: Oman & UAE

Postby Thomas Bader » Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:16 pm

Gabriel Martínez wrote:Lytorhynchus is a very common species there

Well, this is not in agreement with Drew Gardner, who hardly saw as many as we saw in two weeks in all his years in the area.

Gabriel Martínez wrote:Pseudocerastes occur in middle-high mountain, so to find it you must visit Oman in hottest days of the year

I think this is only valid for night excursions. Swiss colleagues saw Pseudocerastes basking during the day in Wadi Bani Khalid in early spring

For us it was definitely one of the best trips ever - every day at least a new species (ok, very often geckos). Also the kindness and high education standard of most people, a very safe country etc.
Only: Alcohol is VULNERABLE

We will be back for sure and I agree with Gabri for Dhofar: shortly after the monsoon should be the best time
Thomas Bader
 
Posts: 216
Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 7:32 am
Location: Vienna
Hometown: Vienna
country: Austria

Re: Oman & UAE

Postby Gabriel Martínez » Wed Jul 03, 2013 8:48 am

Thomas Bader wrote:this is not in agreement with Drew Gardner, who hardly saw as many as we saw in two weeks in all his years in the area


Ok, sorry. Some friends found 8 in 1 night and you also found many and I guessed that it was a common species, but if Gardner said this, probably you and my friends had a good nights although Lytorhynchus generally is not so common there


Thomas Bader wrote:I think this is only valid for night excursions. Swiss colleagues saw Pseudocerastes basking during the day in Wadi Bani Khalid in early spring


Good info! Probably in our visit we should have tried to expend many time during sun hours for this species. At night the problem was not only the temperature, but the ground was very wet (this spring Oman had the most rainned spring in 15 years). In the evening I think that maybe we had any chance, but at night it was too difficult...

Thomas Bader wrote:Also the kindness and high education standard of most people, a very safe country etc.Only: Alcohol is VULNERABLE


Yes, very very safe country, sometimes it seems that all Oman native people are rich! because the only "workers" are from Pakistan.
In our visit to Dhofar we could see that people was working in a new road north-south. We didn´t know if this will be an alternative road or maybe an ¿AutoRoute?. If they build a AutoRoute, the trips to Oman could be fantastic. The road between north-south is the worst place for herping in history. More tan 500kms without absolutely nothing (no mountains, no bushes, no stones, no water... nothing, like a "purgatory"). We survive this road thanks to Jurgen "Senna"
And yes, it is pity to can´t celebrate the findings with a cold beer or wine ;)
User avatar
Gabriel Martínez
 
Posts: 436
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:24 pm
Hometown: Madrid
country: Spain

Previous

Return to Herping in the rest of the world

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests