(Read part 1 here.)
Waking up, we had a quick breakfast and packed our things. Jurgen travels light and his small bag contained only seven cartons of Marlboros and three pairs of pants ( I exaggerate, of course, there were only two pairs of pants). We jumped in the car and Jurgen started the long drive in his usual, slow and steady style, like driving Miss Daisy but with more speed and swearing.
Our first objective was a well known site for Softshell Turtles. We arrived reasonably early and the heat was not too bad. The site was not much to look at, a small river with a bridge, surrounded by farmland. However as soon as we approached the waters edge, the Trionyx came to see us as they are very used to being fed by tourists and are not as timid as Mauremys. Also present in the river were huge muskrats and catfish benefiting from the protection afforded to the turtles and the tourist food scraps.
We spent a happy half-hour with the Trionyx triunguis and the occasional Mauremys rivulata until our attention was distracted by a Hoopoe, a common bird, but still pretty. Unfortunately, our peaceful muses were interrupted by the arrival of a coach load of particularly noisy children, the look of horror on Jurgens’ face was splendid, like my nan when someone put the tea in the cup before the milk.
We packed up and drove further into the agricultural area. The landscape was predominantly sand with short bushes and sparse vegetation. Jurgen quickly spotted a Schreiber’s Fringe-Fingered Lizard, Acanthodactylus schreiberi syriacus.
We had to be extremely careful as the habitat was terra typica for Daboia. Despite our best efforts, we only saw Ocellated Skinks (Chalcides ocellatus) and an all too brief glimpse of a Red Whip Snake (Platyceps collaris).
Sweaty like a fat blokes flip flops, we got back into the car, cranked up the AC and headed further south, stopping at a garage as Jurgens nicotine and caffeine levels had fallen to dangerous levels. We flipped some trash only finding geckos and more Camel Spiders. We continued South and reached our accommodation which ended up being a very strange “guest house” in the middle of the desert.
This desert shack was run by an old stoner. It took about twenty minutes for his kids to wake him to meet us. What the house lacked in organization, it made up for in views. The stoner told us that Ibex (a form of wild goat) could be best seen at 3 A.M. near the houses. This struck me as odd as Ibex are not especially nocturnal so Jurgen and I went to look at 17:00, a much more pleasant time. We quickly found and photographed these magnificent desert antelopes.
We drove into the desert to await the golden hour of road cruising. The habitat was markedly different to the North, dunes and small stone desert prevailed here. Jurgen whose trip logistics and research would be the envy of a Delta force briefing, had selected a section of road that had previously been good to him.
We drove the 5 km section a few times and then Jurgen saw the first snake of the evening a fabulous Atractaspis engaddensis, the Black Asp. Supposedly the snake that killed Cleopatra. A stunning snake and a real trip highlight even though we saw a few of these, the excitement never dwindled. We continued driving and saw a number of Stenodactylus sthenodactylus a very cute, but hard to photograph gecko species as they are almost translucent.
Soon after, Jurgen let out a small yell. He had spotted another snake, and it was a stunner. One of the most beautiful snakes of the trip. Without wishing to sound too Mills and Boon, the colours were fantastic, a coral pink, matching the desert sand perfectly. The noise of the snake rubbing its scales together was amazing and the calling card of Echis coloratus, the Palestine Saw-Scaled Viper. Extremely dangerous, extremely aggressive and utterly beautiful just like my fiancée. Seeing Saw-Scaleds in this rock desert habitat was such an honour. An absolute highlight for any venom head.
Back in the car and extremely satisfied, not expecting anything to top the Echis, I spotted a snake in the middle of the road. We leapt out of the car and found a very hard to see snake, the stunning Arabian Cat Snake, Telescopus dhara. We were stoked to say the least. We may have even had a little cuddle (what happens in the desert stays in the desert). To find such a hard to see species in such a barren environment was incredible luck.
This species of cat snake is stunning. Orange and red with the typical vertical pupils of the Telescopus genus. A lizard feeder that yet again had me looking at the utter sparseness of the environment , the rarity of prey items, the temperature highs and lows it makes me question how we keep stuff in our collections. Luck struck again on our way back as we crossed paths with another Echis!
We got back to the guest house in the wee small hours but as all good herpers know, you get all the sleep you need when your dead, so we were back at it nice and early as we headed to the dunes before the temps got ridiculous.
We scanned the sand for tracks from the previous night. There were some but not as many as Jurgen had seen on his previous trips. Soon the temperature rose considerably and we started seeing lizards in no time. Fringe-Toed Lizards were in abundance, uber rapid and very hard to tell the species apart.
Jurgen then saw a fabulously grumpy Agama. Even though this little fella was only 20 cm long, he thought he could take us both on. He was probably right, temps were really getting hot and chasing lizards in extreme heat resulted in extreme sweat.
We continued the exploring of the dunes, seeing more fringe-toeds, possibly scutellatus and boskianus and then Jurgen saw a Varanus griseus. We gave chase, not the smartest thing to do considering the temps, we tracked it for about 500m and Jurgen remembered a burrow with tracks from his previous trip.
We waited at the burrow, Jurgen smoking. Me sweating what little fluids I had left. No monitor appeared, so once we reached an even cooked consistency we left. We headed back to rehydrate and I had some major camera servicing to do. Sand really does get everywhere and the lenses were starting to jam. After a few hours of domestics, camera cleaning, battery charging , pants washing, that kind of thing, we headed out to a rubbish tip on the outskirts of a small town, temps were falling and flipping seemed the way forward.
The site proved very successful, scorpions of a particularly naughty variety were under a great deal of the rocks, the larger flatter rocks provided cover for Trachylepis vittata and Eumeces schneideri, big chunky skinks. We left the site and headed for another section of road. Unfortunately, traffic was heavy and we started to see road killed snakes, very depressing.
At last we found a live snake, another Atractaspis, then we saw Jurgens’ number one objective (Daboia doesn’t count, they’re his obsession) crossing the road in front of us was an adult Egyptian Cobra, Walterinnesia aegyptia. It was a fantastic sight, jet black and very sturdy, one of the most powerful venomous snakes I’ve ever held. Extremely pleased with ourselves we got back to the house and had a much needed meal of instant noodles and turned in.
Up and at it again the next day, we met up with Guy. We drove along with Guy pointing out a series of holes in the desert for communications cables, herps fall into these and Guy and Aviad regularly check these to rescue any trapped occupants. Most had only geckos and Fringe-Toed Lizards. One hole presented us with the fabulous little False Smooth Snake, Macroprotodon cucullatus, a lovely little mildly venomous rear-fanged snake. We drove on and stopped at an area of trash. After turning over trash in the heat we only found more Solifuges and skinks so we headed off to pick up Aviad.
The sight that greeted us was to say the least disturbing. Aviad, had changed out of his work uniform short notice, putting on the only spare clothes he could find, he stood resplendent in a pair of electric blue micro shorts that were so tight that they would have constricted an anorexic Cuban waiter. Aviad is not anorexic, he is tall and big built, he had teamed the shorts with a white t-shirt and his uniform boots. I have seen some bad shite in my years of law enforcement, but this was a special kind of bad. We got Aviad into the car, worried that the shorts were cutting off his circulation and if the police would be after us as. Aviad had clearly stolen the shorts from a ten year old boy.
First stop was a batch of dry water holes, accessible only by rope ladders. Full of pigeons but sadly no herps, except in the middle of the desert a solitary green toad, no water visible in any direction, just bare rock. Day Solifuges were in abundance, pretty in a weird kind of way. Never wanting to let fear stop me from doing something I managed to convince myself to stroke one, very soft, in case you don’t feel like touching one yourself.
Aviad and Guy found us two wanted species, the Tegu look alike, Acanthodactylus beershebensis and the very small and cute small-spotted lizard, Mesalina guttulata. We also saw the wonderful Trapelus pallidus, a stunning Agama species.
With our skin heads, tattoos and Aviads shorts and boots, we looked like the oldest, and oddest boy band as we headed back to the rubbish tip from the previous night. Here Aviad found my favourite non-venomous snake of the trip, a Sinai Dwarf Racer, Eirenis coronelloides. I love the fact that this tiny snake eats scorpions. Looking at its face, it knows its cool.
We left the dump and visited an area of stoney desert. Here, Jurgen met a special friend, the very skinny Sinai Agama, Pseudotrapelus sinaitus, a gravid female, as indicated by the red patches on the back. This individual became very attached to Jurgen, jumping onto his camera. We then cruised the roads as the golden hour approached but found absolutely no snakes! We saw hyena, porcupine, mice and ever present, Solifuge but no chuffing snakes. We went home very late and very disappointed.
On our last day Jurgen and I did some tourist-y stuff whilst we waited for the boys and Leum to finish work or get up. We went to another water hole, more pigeons and lots of flies but no herps so we headed for the dunes. In true Israeli style, Aviad brought me a snake as a present, a much wanted Dolichophis jugularis, the black whip snake.
We headed into the dunes and Aviad and Guy showed me how to follow the tracks of the desert herps and mammals, an absolute honour to be allowed into the chaps favourite arena. Here Aviad showed me, what was my favourite lizard of the whole trip, Chalcides sepsoides, the awesome wedge nose sand skink. As Jurgen found me a lovely Stenodactylus petrii, a beautiful tiny gecko.
In the high spot of the dunes however, we found my favourite venomous snake of the trip, the tiny Cerastes vipera. Following their sidewinder tracks for hundreds of yards across the dunes to finally find the tiny little viper under a bush was magical.
Sadly it got late, and Jurgen and I had to head off for the airport. We said our goodbyes and drove to Tel Aviv. Jurgen flew at 06:00 after shedloads of queuing and security checks. I flew home at 16:45, after being searched five times very thoroughly and being awake for around 39 hours. I slept most of the flight home. I arrived back in rainy Blighty and after a long drive finally got home and had a decent cup of tea.
Trips like this are a blessing. The variety of species, the completely alien habitat, but most of all, the cool people you share the thrill of the hunt with. Choose your herping chums wisely!
