Ghana 2015

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

Ghana 2015

Postby Yannick Francioli » Wed Sep 23, 2015 10:08 pm

Hi everyone !
So I went to Ghana this summer, the main goal was to find the king of beetles: Goliathus regius. We mainly focused our trip on insect, but managed to find some herp anyway ;)

First some butterfly:
Diaporama-4601.jpg

Diaporama-4247.jpg

Diaporama-4474.jpg

Diaporama-4988.jpg

Diaporama-5016.jpg
Danger is alway nearby...

Diaporama-4052.jpg
And some get caught.

Diaporama-4621.jpg

Diaporama-5247.jpg

Diaporama-5265.jpg

Diaporama-4421.jpg

Diaporama-5409.jpg



Diaporama-3986.jpg
Chamaeleo senegalensis

Diaporama-4582.jpg
Another one

Diaporama-5316.jpg
Agama africana

Diaporama-4765.jpg
Philothamnus sp.

Diaporama-5302.jpg
Bothrophthalmus lineatus

Diaporama-5312.jpg


And of course... The king:
Diaporama-5127.jpg

Diaporama-4011.jpg
In situ mating =)

Diaporama-4165.jpg
Those beetles are really awful to spot, they are on very high trees, and they never come lower than 20 meters...

Diaporama-4215.jpg

Diaporama-4149.jpg
I can't believe those monsters can fly


Diaporama-4753.jpg
Prosopocoilus savagei

Diaporama-4455.jpg
Chlorocala africana africana


Hope you enjoyed ! I plan to go back there next year (and I'll do more herping this time !)
Yannick Francioli
 
Posts: 45
Joined: Sun Aug 04, 2013 8:22 pm
Hometown: 1095 Lutry
country: Switzerland

Re: Ghana 2015

Postby Martti Niskanen » Wed Sep 23, 2015 11:40 pm

Nice stuff with the insects. Herping-wise, the Bothrophthalmus is a great find. I'd love to see more photos of the trip.
User avatar
Martti Niskanen
 
Posts: 242
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:37 pm
Hometown: Jyvaskyla
country: Finland

Re: Ghana 2015

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Thu Sep 24, 2015 9:28 am

Interesting stuff of a country I know little or nothing about, thanks!
Jeroen Speybroeck
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3161
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:18 am
Hometown: Merelbeke
country: Belgium

Re: Ghana 2015

Postby Bobby Bok » Thu Sep 24, 2015 11:26 am

Great to see more African herping ventures being posted! We also searched for Goliathus (and other Scarabaeidae) in Malawi but poor timing resulted in very few beetles being encountered and no Goliathus. Western Africa is definitely better to herp during the European summer that is for sure!

Would love to hear some more about the places you visited and a list of species you found during your trip.
User avatar
Bobby Bok
 
Posts: 954
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:11 pm
Hometown: Heemskerk
country: Netherlands

Re: Ghana 2015

Postby Yannick Francioli » Thu Sep 24, 2015 1:25 pm

For sure summer isn't the good season for beetles in Malawi, you had no chance to see any Goliathus albosignatus I think. The good period would be from january to february, and even in right season they are very difficult to find, as I said they only go on some specific trees where they meet to mate, and they stay very high. Without the help from locals who know the good spots, it's nearly impossible !
Even if it was the good season, we didn't see that many beetle. We stayed in the same place for the whole trip in order to setup traps etc... Beetling is not easy at all...
I don't want to reveal the location here, it's not a known locality for Goliathus regius, and it would be better if it stayed like this.
I'll try to do a list of the species we've seen (but I won't list butterfly or moth, we've seen hundreds of them !)
Yannick Francioli
 
Posts: 45
Joined: Sun Aug 04, 2013 8:22 pm
Hometown: 1095 Lutry
country: Switzerland

Re: Ghana 2015

Postby Bobby Bok » Thu Sep 24, 2015 2:29 pm

Yannick Francioli wrote:For sure summer isn't the good season for beetles in Malawi, you had no chance to see any Goliathus albosignatus I think. The good period would be from january to february, and even in right season they are very difficult to find, as I said they only go on some specific trees where they meet to mate, and they stay very high. Without the help from locals who know the good spots, it's nearly impossible !


We knew that before we went but as this was more an allround wildlife trip it didn't matter, we were still kinda wishing one would be found though... ;)
User avatar
Bobby Bok
 
Posts: 954
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:11 pm
Hometown: Heemskerk
country: Netherlands

Re: Ghana 2015

Postby Robin Duborget » Fri Sep 25, 2015 8:35 am

Goliathus :shock: ! I'm jealous !
User avatar
Robin Duborget
 
Posts: 124
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:14 am
Hometown: Corte - Corsica
country: France

Re: Ghana 2015

Postby Jürgen Gebhart » Fri Sep 25, 2015 4:03 pm

The Snakes are cool, but the beetles ... bäh!!! ;)
User avatar
Jürgen Gebhart
 
Posts: 1423
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:17 am
Hometown: Wiedergeltingen Bavaria
country: Germany

Re: Ghana 2015

Postby Aleksandar Simovic » Sun Sep 27, 2015 8:53 pm

Philothamnus looks great! Good photos and not so familiar species :)
User avatar
Aleksandar Simovic
 
Posts: 219
Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 3:46 pm
Hometown: Belgrade
country: Serbia


Return to Herping in the rest of the world

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests