Southern Africa
part deux. After setting off from the beautiful Namaqualand coast we hit the SA/Namibia border early morning. Due to their past relations, SA and Namibia have significant political and social friction, so a border crossing can be a bit of a hassle. We were going to a congress, but not really working, so we wanted (free) tourist visas. Surely enough Gobabeb Training and Reseach Centre came up at some point and we ended up staying at the Namibian immigration for about two and a half hours. We ended up telling immigration our plan and told them we had tongs and hooks (a big nono) in the van. They wanted to check the car but gave up seeing that it was full of backpacks, rucksacks, rubbish and biltong. In the end we were let off, but it was made very clear that we’d be in major trouble if caught with reptiles in Namibia.
Due to collecting and smuggling, they’re really wary of herpers in Namibia, which is great, but obviously frustrating for a conservation-minded group who have no intention to collect anything. Still, I prefer them being arses if it cuts collecting and smuggling even a bit.
After a lot of driving and a nights stop in Mariental, we headed for Gobabeb, a reseach station in the middle of nowhere just between the sand dunes sea and the gravel desert in the Namib.
5am. start. Again.
During the drive, we made a couple of random stops for herps. Not much luck.
Weaver nest .
Itsy bitsy and a bit red.
We made a few dodgy and potentially dangerous shortcuts on the way. Here we are at about 3800m asl. Getting ready to descend to the Namib with an outside temperature of 41 deg.C. Alone and without potential backup if something goes wrong.
Kuiseb river just before Gobabeb. The river runs (or doesn’t) just next to the research station.
Gobabeb. A dream-like location between the gravel desert and dunes. A mighty cool place.
Arrival after a long, stressful drive.
Registration for the congress. In the photo are a couple of living herpetology legends: Bill Branch and Aaron Bauer. There’s also a Johan Marais and a James.
Our glamorous accommodation. We had access to UV torches, but didn’t check the site for scorpions. Apparently the trees are full of them. Out of sight, out of mind.
Notice the survival kit in the boot.
After settling in, we headed straight for the beautiful dunes.
White lady spider,
Leucorchestris arenicola. Not small.
And boom! The special species everyone wants to see. A stunningly beautiful little thing.
Pachydactylus rangei. 
Chondrodactylus turneri.
No braai that night, but a bit of food, mingling and a good sleep in the tent. The talks started the next morning. Here’s Prof. Graham Alexander giving the intro talk.
The talks went on through all the day and in the evening we took off to the dunes for a sundowner or two.
Gravel desert.
Roptropus afer with a certain Harry in the background.
What a struggle coming up, and it flipping was. Being short and fat with short legs with a backpack full of camera gear doesn’t really work with steep, high sand dunes. Notice the (lovely) idiotholes carrying up coolboxes full of beer.
After the group photo, little birds started to twitter about an interesting sighting. We knew what it would be and a scout was sent to confirm it. After descending the dune he gave us the thumbs up and off we followed and saw this stunner of a beast.
Bitis peringueyi.
Dune-sundowners were easily forgotten, so we took photos of the beautiful snake and headed back off to the Research Centre. At a place like this, one doesn’t want to waste time or opportunities, so we were off again after sunset. Someone had a brilliant setup for spotting the eye-glare of geckoes, so we were pretty successful.
Ptenopus garrulus. 
The toes of a
Ptenopus:
Eye lick:
Ptenopus kochi.
Chondrodactylus angulifer. One monster of a cool lizard.
Next morning:
Spotting
Roptropus.
And there it is.
R. boultoni.
A Ptenopus burrow:
Something found.
Trachylepis occidentalis.
Meroles suborbitalis. 
That was the end of Gobabeb. On the way back to Joburg we spent the night in a very cool moon unit.
And on our way out, a
Trachylepis sparsa.. THIS IS SPARSA! (sorry).
On our way to some protected area, we saw a bunch of ground squirrels around a burrow. The whole setup just screamed
Naja, but unfortunately we didn’t see one.
Me with a rock hyrax. One of us in the photo found a cool, fat mammal. You decide which one.
Sister species, anyone? Seriously and
sans Wikipedia.
Agama anchitae.
Another one for the reality of herping –book. A cemetery with pre-dug graves = pitfall traps.
Typhlops schinzi. Possibly the longest one recorded. A note may follow.
Aspidelaps lubricus. A megacool species one just doesn’t find.
Trachylepis variegatus. 
Sporkion
Later on in the day we had our last stopover and of course went road-cruising and flipping.
Pachydactylus rugosus. A lovely species living up to its scientific name.
Pachydactylus purcelli and a photo I’m very happy with. The specimen is twitchy and around 25mm svl.
After a 10+h drive on the day, we reached Joburg. We then decided to take a four hour drive to a posh house in Rooiberg, north of Joburg. We got there just at prime road cruising time.
Chamaeleo dilepis.
Tomopterna cryptotis.
We spent the next day doing some light herping and relaxing. I also managed to break my own rule of always taking a voucher photo of any species. I was handed a flipped
Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia which shot away as I was trying to pose it for a photo. No voucher, dammit.
Amietia angolensis.
Flipping.
Another scorpion.
More road cruising and a
Chamaeleo dilepis:
Gerrhosaurus flavigularis. The scientific name is obviously misleading.
Rain next morning got our hopes up for finding frog-eaters on the road, but only found this: A flattened
Causus rhombeatus.
After this, it was back to Joburg and a couple of long flights and a bus ride home to soggy, cold Finland. In total, a very cool trip with some fantastic people, beautiful locations and nice herping.
Oh, and some new camera gear, a big Visa bill and an upcoming struggle with the insurance company.
I hope you enjoyed. More photos can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pahakyy/sets/72157649826709475/
Wed 14 Jan - 2:52
