Namibia - December 2013

[Bastien Comment]

Hi everybody,

I haven't been very active on the forum this year but in December 2013, I've had the chance to make a trip to Namibia for a few less than 2 weeks. After seeing the teaser of Martti Niskanen, I knew I had to do the following report as soon as possible because otherwise, I wouldn't have dared to post my snakeless report. Indeed, as you can surely imagine, my goal was obviously to see as many snakes as I could and unfortunately, I must say that the target hasn't been reached at all. Indeed, I've only seen 2 snakes...DOR! Anyway, it was a nice trip all the same (despite the frustration to know that there were many Bitis and Naja in the area waiting for me which I haven't been able to find) and out of the snakes, I've been lucky to see stunning landscapes and some other animals including some cool herps. Special tribute to Jürgen Gebhart because we all know he's a son of the desert

I've made the trip with a guy I had met in 2011 when I had been visiting South Africa (People Like Us Safari). I had met him on a boat when we were looking for white sharks and he organizes safari tours in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana (and maybe even in more places actually). With us, a very nice couple (an austrian guy and a south african girl) who admitted that they had never ever been looking so much for snakes in their entire life

We travelled by car covering around 5'000 km within 10 days and obviously, we've had the chance to see many beautiful places of Namibia such as Orange River, Fish River Canyon (2nd biggest canyon in the world), the Namib desert, Spitzkoppe (the Matterhorn of Namibia) and at the end, the national park of Etosha where we've seen to me the most exciting herp of the trip (at least, alive), a nice rock monitor eating snails 1 meter away from our car. We've also had the chance to witness lions mating there which was obviously also a highlight of the trip.

Now, here are some pictures to summarize that. Hope you'll enjoy and won't be as frustrated as I've been not to see living snakes in there

Landscapes

Namibia has one of the least (if not the least) density population in the world.

Fish river's canyon.

Am I the king of the world? At least, not the king of African snakes...

The team.

Sunrise on the Namib desert.

Moonlight on the Namib desert.

Not much rain in this area...

Last day in Cape Town before flying back home.

[Bastien Comment]

Now some wild life (not that our team was not "alive" obviously )

Non herps animals

There were a lot of those big nests and my guide told me he had already seen many times Cape cobras going in it looking for food. Not this time unfortunately...

Amazing camouflage for the zebras. When they don't move, you simply don't see them although there's no vegetation around.

Lots of seals everywhere...

A female lion...

...followed by the male.

And well, I don't think I need to explain what's going on here...

Some wild porn...

After a couple of minutes, they're done.

Sex can be so exhausting...

Hmmm, life is hard.

Nice teeth...

Seems to be satisfied.

A jackal hanging around the camping at night.

A giraffe chewing a bone to get some calcium.

Are you trying to tell me something?

[Bastien Comment]

And finally...

The herps (including insects)

A camel spider in its hole.

And out of it.

An angry scorpion.

I had seen many in 2011 but this time, this was the only one.

My personal highlight of the trip: rock monitor in habitat.

Nice tongue buddy.

Finally a snake...but a very dead one. Not even sure what it was as its head was missing. Probably either a cobra or a mole snake.

And the other DOR snake. A cobra but I must admit that I'm not totally sure whether it was a young Cape cobra or another one so don't hesitate to comment if you want.

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Are you kidding me? They even have a place called "Pofadder" (puff adder in Afrikaan) and I'll come back to Switzerland with 0,0 living snake??

[Niklas Ban]

I am very very jealous! Namibia is on top of my to-do list and even without snakes it's just amazing!

[Jürgen Gebhart]

I was long time waiting for this report! Love it!!!

Just 10 month ... !!!

[Ruggero M.]

I would say, the first dead snake seems to me more a mole snake than a Haemachatus or another cobra. Judging by the type of dorsal scalation: tail is short both in Haemachatus and in Pseudaspis...
Maybe too hot period for snakes? Have you tried night road hunting?

[Bastien Comment]

Thanks for the feedbacks guys.

Jürgen: I knew you would be happy to finally see this long awaited post. Merry Christmas

Ruggero: I didn't have the possibility to go with a car at nights but I've obviously tried by foot at nights and early in the morning. It was hot indeed but according to my guide, not too much to see some snakes. I've also flipped some rocks but again without success unfortunately...

[Ruggero M.]

Thanks for the feedbacks guys.

Jürgen: I knew you would be happy to finally see this long awaited post. Merry Christmas

Ruggero: I didn't have the possibility to go with a car at nights but I've obviously tried by foot at nights and early in the morning. It was hot indeed but according to my guide, not too much to see some snakes. I've also flipped some rocks but again without success unfortunately...

Thanks Bastien: it's not always easy to spot snakes in the tropics, and your experience confirms this!

[Bastien Comment]

Agreed Ruggero but on the other hand, I've been to Madagascar in January-February 2012 (http://fieldherping.eu/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1431) and there I've had the chance to see more than 50 snakes of 16 different species And out of the snakes, we've seen many many chameleons, amphibians and amazing insects.

[Martti Niskanen]

After seeing the teaser of Martti Niskanen, I knew I had to do the following report as soon as possible because otherwise, I wouldn't have dared to post my snakeless report. Indeed, as you can surely imagine, my goal was obviously to see as many snakes as I could and unfortunately, I must say that the target hasn't been reached at all. Indeed, I've only seen 2 snakes...DOR! Anyway, it was a nice trip all the same (despite the frustration to know that there were many Bitis and Naja in the area waiting for me which I haven't been able to find) and out of the snakes, I've been lucky to see stunning landscapes and some other animals including some cool herps. Special tribute to Jürgen Gebhart because we all know he's a son of the desert

Glad I pushed you to post your photos and report. Going to a place with great diversity obviously doesn't mean you're going to come across any, especially with snakes. I hardly found anything whilst there and pretty much all finds are by my colleagues.

Where did you photograph the cobra? There's a bit of an overlap between Naja nivea and the spitters, but the nivea shouldn't be black/dark up there. Probs a woodi.

The Varanus is a great find. And obviously the "charismatic megafauna".