Trip to the valley of the Draâ

[Guillaume Gomard]

Hi fieldherpers,

I just come back from a one week trip in Morocco. The plan was to drive along the "N9 road" from Marrakech to the south of Zagora to enjoy the landscape and of course, to look for animals. A general comment is that the temperatures were really high (at least for a French guy): More than 40°C in Marrakech or in the Zagora province. Close to Ouarzazate, the temperatures were lower (around 30°C) but someone told me that it has not been raining since the beginning of April. Consequently, many rivers were almost dry in this region. I will present below some pictures of the herpetofauna found during this trip in 3 different parts. As I don't have a lot of free time right now, this report will not be too much detailed but please feel free to ask me questions (BTW, an ID help would be appreciated, especially for the amphibians).

Part I: From Marrakech to the Atlas mountains.

Before crossing the Atlas mountains, I spent one day in the surroundings of Aït Ourir, where the river was still quite large. I found many Mauremys leprosa of all sizes (in the river itself and in the irrigation canals) and also several Psammophis shokari which were really active even in the afternoon. In particular, I had the occasion to observe one specimen in the pine forest which started to climb at the top of a tree (>7m) when discovered (See picture #11). Testudo graeca was present both close to the river and in the pine forest. The next day I drove in the direction of Ouarzazate through the Atlas mountains. I found again some Mauremys leprosa and at an higher altitude (around 2000m ASL, 25°C, moderate to strong wind), I saw for the first time the gorgeous Atlas day geckos basking on red dark rocks.

Landscape near Aguergour

Chalcides polylepis

Psammodromus algirus

Mauremys leprosa

Ait Ourir surrounding

Testudo graeca

Psammophis shokari

Testudo graeca

River in Atlas mountains

Pelophylax saharicus

Discoglossus scovazzi

Mauremys leprosa

Atlas moutains >2000m

Habitat of Quedenfeldtia trachyblepharus

Quedenfeldtia trachyblepharus

[Mario Schweiger]

Very nice pics!
I love the racer in the pine-tree

Your ID´s:
1st: Pelophylax saharicus
2nd: Discoglossus scovazzi

Mario

[Laura Bok]

What an interesting landscape! Thanks for posting.

I love the racer in the pine-tree

Racer?! What racer? Aaah, there he is

[Gabriel Martínez]

Very nice Guillaume!! Nice shots, I specially love the second of the Quedenfeltia. Nice animal and also impressive the Psammophis in the pine

Cheers

[Jürgen Gebhart]

Great!

congrats on the Gecko!

[Pierre-Yves Vaucher]

ah la vaaaache... what a cow !!! Thanks to remember me a lot of souvenirs !!¨Go back of course, I hope with Frank and Gabri for next april ??? Somebody else ?

[Guillaume Gomard]

Thanks for the ID Mario, and thank you for your comments on this first part. Now I can understand why you were so enthusiastic about Morocco The concentration and the diversity of reptiles is amazing!

[Guillaume Gomard]

Part II: Surrounding of Ouarzazate.

This second part bring us on the other side of the Atlas moutains, where the temperatures did not exceed 35°C. The first place investigated was the "Vallée des Roses", which was indeed full of sweet-smelling flowers. Close to the river, Bufo mauritanicus were looking for a place in the shade. In rocky areas, I observed many Chalcides and beautiful Agama impalearis but unfortunately no snakes (only pieces of shed skin left on rocks).

Vallée des Roses...

...and its inhabitants

Around Ouarzazate, I could observe Natrix maura in the irrigation canals but it was quite difficult to find other snakes. However, going back from a dinner in Ouarza (at around 8 p.m), I had the opportunity to spot an adult Rhagerhis moilensis crossing the road. I immediately stopped the car to have a look at this snake. After 2 minutes, it escaped from bushes and I could start an athletic photo-session. With Hierophis viridiflavus, I thought I was used to snakes with a nasty temper but this one was really aggressive. The "inevitable" finally happened and I was bitten in my left hand (the snake released it directly). As the bite from this snake can have some effects (see for instance the picture at http://www.rear-fanged.com/en/malpolon.html), I think it is interesting to mention here that I did not suffer from any complications. After this episode, I took profit from the cool temperatures to start a noctural herping session which was quite successful from an arachnid point of view with the observation of several solifuges (up to around 13cm in lenght!) and scorpions. What is also interesting to report is that local people were looking at me when photographing the snake or scorpions and some of them asked me if I could cut the head of the Rhagerhis (one guy even asked me if it was a rattlesnake, I was more expecting a "cobra" but OK ) or the tails of scorpions (I think they were also afraid that this could be a bad advertisment for tourists). I guess some of you had a similar experience with vipers killed by local people.

Surrounding of Ouarzazate

Rhagerhis moilensis

Galeodus sp.

Hottentota franzwerneri

Tarentola mauritanica juliae

[Stéphane Aubry]

Great job

[Guillaume Gomard]

Part III: Zagora province.

This region is a good place to go herping since it combines simultaneously semi-arid areas and palm groves extending along the Draâ river. Among the snakes occuring in this place, I had the chance to observe for instance Telescopus tripolitanus (only a single specimen found in bushes at the end of the afternoon, which managed to hide in a sand hole before I could take some pics) or Psammophis schokari.

The Draâ river and some species occuring in its vicinity:

More in the south, close to Zagora (temperatures above 40°C)

As far as I am concerned, I would rename this region the "cradle of Natrix maura". Below are some pictures of Natrix found in the river and in the irrigation canals. It should be noted that I did not find really "large" specimens (i.e with a length >40cm).

At the end of my trip, I tried to roughly quantify the density of N.maura in a limited area (10mx10m) in the Draâ river (the place chosen was quiet and the flow of the river was low, time=4 p.m and T=30°C). Within 15min, I managed to find almost 20 individuals .

Finally, between the cities of Agdz and Zagora, I was able to photograph a population of Chamaeleo chamaeleon. One year after observing them in Portugal, I was really happy to meet them again in this very nice landscape.

End of the trip

Thanks for reading,

Guillaume