by Gabriel Martínez » Sun May 25, 2014 9:59 pm
Hi all!
Thanks for your comments.
Some iranian guys contacted me some years/months ago (to get photos for a book, to be coauthor in a paper, etc...) and I told them about my interest in Iran, specially in the awesome spider-tailed. So after many emails I decided to visit the country. I propose them an itinerary where I can find some species and they told me that it was possible and we bought the flights. Spider-tailed snake is common is some areas with very precise nature factors. So we were 2 days trying in different habitats in Ilam and Kermansah without success (holotype and paratype places) and finally, third day, with a local person we got to find them in a "secret" valley. One of the best moments in my life. All is filmed for the iranian TV so in some months we will see the documentary. These snakes are very very interesting in photos and videos, but when you visit the habitat and observe them in situ, waiting for birds, they became the most interesting and specialized reptiles in the world (in my opinion)
About authorization, before visiting Iran, one biologist of Kermansah-Ilam told me that if we ned samples we ned to get authorization, but just to take photos, you don´t need it. We visited Iran without authorization, and we had serious troubles in the border with Iraq because you need an authorization to stay in Ilam (only with the VISA you can receive a fail just for staying there). I don´t want to talk more about this in internet, if any of you are thinking in visiting Iran, please send me an email and I will explain you the problem we had and how they told me it´s the way to avoid troubles...
Cheers