Morocco Herptrip 2014

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

Morocco Herptrip 2014

Postby Markus Oulehla » Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:52 am

Hi everybody,
here comes a little overview of our herping trip to morocco a few weeks ago.

After we spent some time in the rainforest the last years, we're all excited about herping in the desert.
The first part of our tour was along the cost from Marrakech south...
So we arrived at the airport in Marrakech, got our car and drove down, a little south of the Sous-Massa national park.

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near Sous-Massa National Park by markusOulehla, on Flickr


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Buthus tunetanus by markusOulehla, on Flickr


the first lizards
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Acanthodactylus erythrurus by markusOulehla, on Flickr


and the reason for our stop (for those bird-lovers :P ), the bald ibis, pretty cool though
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Geronticus eremita by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Geronticus eremita by markusOulehla, on Flickr


short stop on the way back from the ibis
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in the Sous-Massa National Park by markusOulehla, on Flickr

and another nice find
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Androctonus sp. by markusOulehla, on Flickr


further on near Tiznit
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surroundings by markusOulehla, on Flickr

near Sidi Ifni some spiders
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Latrodectus sp. by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Lycosidae by markusOulehla, on Flickr

aaaand...
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near Sidi Ifni, Bitis arietans by markusOulehla, on Flickr


with a nicer background
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Bitis arietans by markusOulehla, on Flickr


on the way to Fort Bou Jerif
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looong road by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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road to Fort Bou Jerif by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Fort Bou Jerif campsite by markusOulehla, on Flickr


at the actual Fort
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Fort Bou Jerif by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Tarentula mauritanica by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Argiope lobata by markusOulehla, on Flickr


it seemed as we've been to slow to get some colubrids... so...
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Fort Bou Jerif surroundings by markusOulehla, on Flickr


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Bitis arietans by markusOulehla, on Flickr


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Bitis arietans by markusOulehla, on Flickr


The road to Tarfaya, our next stop in the very south west of morocco...
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road to Tarfaya by markusOulehla, on Flickr


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mantis by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Chamaeleo chamaeleon by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Chalcides sphenopsiformis by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Chalcides sphenopsiformis by markusOulehla, on Flickr


and then...
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Chamaeleo chamaeleon by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Chamaeleo chamaeleon by markusOulehla, on Flickr


night herping...
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Cebrennus rechenbergi by markusOulehla, on Flickr


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Tarentola chazaliae by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Stenodactylus mauritanicus by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Stenodactylus sp. by markusOulehla, on Flickr


North again and our first steps away from the coast, at Guelmim...
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on the way to Guelmim by markusOulehla, on Flickr


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Saurodactylus brosseti by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Saurodactylus brosseti by markusOulehla, on Flickr


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Agama impalearis by markusOulehla, on Flickr


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Scorpio sp. by markusOulehla, on Flickr


the only non venomous snake we got in front of our cameras...
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Hemorrhois hippocrepis by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Hemorrhois hippocrepis by markusOulehla, on Flickr


and a nice donkey we've met
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curious donkey by markusOulehla, on Flickr


Pictures of the second part of our trip will follow the next days, we went further inland to Assa and Tata, with some nice finds aswell!
a little preview...
Image
near Assa by markusOulehla, on Flickr


regards
Markus
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Re: Morocco Herptrip 2014

Postby Guillaume Gomard » Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:45 am

Wonderful pictures! Your widow is Latrodectus lilianae: do you have more pictures of the habitat?
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Re: Morocco Herptrip 2014

Postby Mario Schweiger » Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:12 am

Nice shots!
Are you sure for the A. erythrurus?
Should be A. busacki/pardalis at this area?

Mario
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Please visit also my personal Herp-site vipersgarden.at
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Re: Morocco Herptrip 2014

Postby Thomas Reich » Mon Oct 27, 2014 11:03 am

Very nice! My favourite picture is the trash viper in situ. The concrete pipe reminds me of Gaddafi... I'm looking forward to part 2.
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Re: Morocco Herptrip 2014

Postby Bobby Bok » Mon Oct 27, 2014 3:39 pm

What a post! So many iconic Moroccan desert species combined with fantastic photography, love it, I am looking forward of seeing the next post ;)
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Re: Morocco Herptrip 2014

Postby Niklas Ban » Mon Oct 27, 2014 4:22 pm

Really nice! Morocco is very high in my to do list and these pictures make me think, that I need more time and more money. :lol:
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Re: Morocco Herptrip 2014

Postby miguel santos » Mon Oct 27, 2014 5:13 pm

Very nice photography Markus, I like it a lot.
I agree with Mario that the Acanthodactylus must be busacki. I was in the area of your report last July and I recognize some places. I feel like going back already.
I love your saurodactylus shots.
It is a great destination to go.

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Re: Morocco Herptrip 2014

Postby Gabriel Martínez » Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:41 pm

Congrats Markus! It´s specially amazing the way that you found Bitis! I only found 1 in situ puff adder in my life in Morocco. It was in a bush, and we found it because we follow the track. But I guess that you found them by luck. Imagine that you are flipping the trash trying to find Chalcides polylepis or something like that and you touch the Bitis with the hand... worse than a land mine!

I told to Attila that probably your Souss Massa Acanthodactylus is pardalis (pardalis complex including busacki). Pardalis is VERY common in the coast between Tamri to Tantan http://www.moroccoherps.com/ficha/Acant ... _pardalis/ and erythrurus (erythrurus complex including lineomaculatus) dissapears in before Tamri and there are only a very few records in Ifni of A. e. "belli" (I don´t know records in Souss Massa, where pardalis is very common): http://www.moroccoherps.com/ficha/Acant ... rythrurus/

Cheers
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Re: Morocco Herptrip 2014

Postby Markus Oulehla » Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:07 pm

Thanks for helping me with the IDs, I'm not good with the lizards :lol:

Yeah we were quite lucky with the two Bitis, or Attila was very lucky he found both of them...
Before I said something like "naa, just garbage over there, won't be worth it..." :oops:

Here is an additional picture of the place where we found, the Latrodectus, Lycosa and the Bitis...
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near Sidi Ifni by markusOulehla, on Flickr


another cool spider we found there
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dead Eresus mom by markusOulehla, on Flickr
on the small picture in the corner you see one of the juveniles



On we go, Part 2: from Gulemim further inland to Assa, quite a lost place, damn hot during the day, but what a beautiful landscape!
Image
near Assa by markusOulehla, on Flickr


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near Assa by markusOulehla, on Flickr



and a really really nice find :D
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Varanus griseus by markusOulehla, on Flickr


we found him in a dried up water pit, so he was a bit thin but still quite fast when we released him...
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Varanus griseus by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Varanus griseus by markusOulehla, on Flickr


After this great experience we went on to Tata....
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near Tata by markusOulehla, on Flickr


night herping in a Palm plantation...
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Tarentola boehmei by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Stenodactylus mauritanicus by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Tropiocolotes algericus by markusOulehla, on Flickr


and then weird things happend :lol:
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Solifugae by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Solifugae by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Solifugae by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Solifugae by markusOulehla, on Flickr


the next day....
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near Tata by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Ptyodactylus oudrii by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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gecko foot by markusOulehla, on Flickr


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Cerastes cerastes by markusOulehla, on Flickr


jackpot :D
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Cerastes cerastes by markusOulehla, on Flickr

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Cerastes cerastes by markusOulehla, on Flickr

damn fast...
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Cerastes cerastes by markusOulehla, on Flickr


and one last picture (for today) and one of my favourites of our trip
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Cerastes cerastes by markusOulehla, on Flickr



Next time some pictures from the oasis Fint and a short stop in the atlas mountains on our way back to Marrakech...


regards
Markus
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Re: Morocco Herptrip 2014

Postby Pierre-Yves Vaucher » Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:32 pm

so NIIIIIIIIIICE !!! thanks
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