Cyprus, October 2016

Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Cyprus

Cyprus, October 2016

Postby Yannick Francioli » Sun Oct 30, 2016 7:06 pm

Hi everyone,
here is a very small report about my trip in Cyprus. It wasn't a full herping trip, I was there with my family and girlfriend, but I had plenty of herping fun!

I was very lucky to meet with Snake George (Hans-Jörg Wiedl), and to spend two days herping with him! Sadly we weren't very lucky, it was an extremely dry year, and even Snake George's best water place were dry... However it was awesome to herp and discuss with him, it was very interesting to hear about his fight to protect herpetofauna in Cyprus.

The first day we went in the pine forest to look for the Macrovipera lebetina, as I said it was extremely dry, and we only found one place were there was a little water, but no luck finding the viper...
cyprus (1 sur 21).JPG
A huge area of forest burnt a few weeks ago

cyprus (3 sur 21).JPG
back into the healthy pine forest

cyprus (2 sur 21).JPG
Ablepharus budaki


The second day Snake George took us to some good costal spots for chameleon, since my family really wanted to see one, but again no luck finding one...
cyprus (5 sur 21).JPG
Acanthodactylus schreiberi

cyprus (6 sur 21).JPG
Acanthodactylus schreiberi

cyprus (7 sur 21).JPG
Cyrtopodion kotschyi

cyprus (8 sur 21).JPG
Cyrtopodion kotschyi


But at the end of the day, Snake George had an amazing surprise for me: a Macrovipera! It was caught by a snake catcher, and will be released once there is more water, to be sure the condition are optimal.
cyprus (9 sur 21).JPG
Macrovipera lebetina

cyprus (10 sur 21).JPG
Macrovipera lebetina


cyprus (11 sur 21).JPG
Snake George, the Macrovipera and me

Huge thanks to Snake George for his help, for taking us around Cyprus, and for this viper! it was awesome.

The rest of the trip was more about visiting Cyprus than herping,we went to the beach, visited ruins and the mount Olympus, where I found a river that wasn't dry but no snakes sadly.
cyprus (12 sur 21).JPG
dry river bed

cyprus (13 sur 21).JPG
Laudakia stellio

cyprus (14 sur 21).JPG
phoenicolacerta troodica

cyprus (15 sur 21).JPG
Pelophylax cypriensis

cyprus (16 sur 21).JPG
One of the only river that wasn't dry

cyprus (17 sur 21).JPG
Ophisops elegans

cyprus (18 sur 21).JPG
Ophisops elegans


And the last nigh we decided to go to the chameleon spot again, and found two young ones!
cyprus (19 sur 21).JPG
first Chameleo chameleon

cyprus (20 sur 21).JPG
second Chameleo chameleon

cyprus (21 sur 21).JPG
second Chameleo chameleon


And that's it. Again big thanks to Snake George and his precious help, I will definitely come back to Cyprus, I still have some snakes to find there!
Yannick Francioli
 
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Re: Cyprus, October 2016

Postby Alexandre Roux » Mon Oct 31, 2016 2:42 pm

Nice pictures ! A new destinationto add on my "wish map" :lol:
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Re: Cyprus, October 2016

Postby Andre Schmid » Mon Oct 31, 2016 4:23 pm

Beautiful little Macrovipera :)

Cyprus is a very interesting island. I´m also sure that I will go back to this island some day :D .
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Re: Cyprus, October 2016

Postby Mario Schweiger » Tue Nov 01, 2016 8:27 am

very nice pictures of Cyprus herps!

nice to see Hans-Jörg is still actice :)
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Please visit also my personal Herp-site vipersgarden.at
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