At the end of August 2007 a good friend and myself headed off to South-East Asia for a 9 week reptile hunting trip. Our aim was to travel round and find and photograph as many different reptile species as we could in 2 months, travelling through Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Here is a quick account of our journey.

Thailand –September 2007

Our first destination was Kanchanaburi Province, around 4 hours drive west of Bangkok. Soon after arriving at our destination, we started to search the area for ideal herping spots for later on that evening. The area we were in had a lot of agricultural land, ideal for many common species but sadly meant the chances of finding anything unusual unlikely. Although we were in the midst of Thailand’s rainy season, we had very little rain whilst we were there. After 2 nights herping in dry conditions 2 species of Kurki Snake, Oligodon taeniatus and Oligodon fasciolatus were caught, along with a large Sunbeam snake, Xenopeltis unicolour.

After Kanchanburi Province, we headed down to Krabi, Southern Thailand. We had a lot more success with the weather, with several short, heavy showers occurring every day, making for ideal herping conditions. We headed to an area on the outskirts of Phanom Bencha national park, around a 35-minute drive from Krabi town. The habitat where we were was near perfect for catching reptiles, as we were staying around a small agricultural clearing right next to a large patch of rainforest. We spent as long as we could at this location, and after several nights of herping in wet conditions, we had caught 1 Red-Tailed Pipesnake, Cylindrophis ruffus, 1 juvenile Reticulated python, python reticulatus, 3 Malayan Ground Vipers, Calloselasma rhodastoma, 1 Common Wolf snake, Lycodon capucinctus, 2 Puff-faced water snakes, Homalopsis buccata, 4 Golden Flying snakes, Chrysopelea ornate, 6 Red-necked Keelbacks, Rhabdophis subminiatus, 1 Dog-toothed catsnake, Boiga cynodon, and 1 Common Asian Ratsnake, Ptyas korros.

Malaysia – September 2007

After Thailand we headed to Peninsular Malaysia. After spending several days in Kuala Lumpur, we met up with a Malaysian friend and headed up to the Cameron Highlands. On the way, we stopped off at a large reptile export facility, which dealt with everything from common asian species right up to expensive boid morphs. It was interesting to see where many of the wild-caught species found in the European markets are kept before being exported. Finally, after a very long drive, we reached the Cameron Highlands. This area had seen little rain over the last fortnight, which made for poor herping. On the drive up we caught a large Malayan Ratsnake, Coelognathus flavolineata, on the road. Our first nights herping proved relatively unsuccessful, as the only find was an Asian Vine snake, Ahaetulla prasina. The next night we decided trek along a stream, in the hope that during this dry time, any reptiles that were out would be found near water. A few hours in we caught our first snake of the evening, another Vine snake. We carried and finally had a worthy find, a male Highlands pit viper, Popeia fucatus, sat on a branch overhanging the stream. On the drive back to the hotel we found a sunbeam snake on the road

Indonesia-  October 2007

We flew to Bali, and after spending a few days surfing, we decided to head east to get to Komodo Island. We did some research and decided that the best way to get to Komodo without taking the ‘Tourist Trail’ was to fly to Bima in Sumbawa, get to the small port town of Sape and charter a boat from there. We booked our flights, and the next morning we were sat on a plane on the first stretch of our journey to see the legendary dragons.  Once in Sapi, we headed to the port and organised a boat. We left before sunrise, and after a 6 hour boat trip through some pretty rough seas, we finally saw Komodo Island on the Horizon. Within 20 minutes of setting foot on the island we came across our first dragon, resting in the shade of the tree close to the Loh Liang headquarters. Over the course of the next three days, we came across 20+ adult Komodo Dragons, plus several small ones, though these proved to be much more elusive than the bold adults. On the second night on the island, we also manage to come an adult Lesser-Sundan island white-lipped viper, Cryptelytrops insularis, which was living in the hollow of a tree.

Following our trip to Komodo, we had a quick stop off in Brunei and then headed back to Thailand. We had a short stay in Bangkok, so headed to the Chatuchak weekend market, where you can find a huge array of live reptiles for sale, from cornsnakes and royal pythons, to Salt Water Crocodiles and King Cobras. Soon we were to be heading home back to England.

After returning to the UK for month, I headed back out to Asia with my girlfriend at the beginning of December for a further 3 months.

Thailand – December 2007

Our first destination on this trip was back to Krabi in Southern Thailand. We spent a week on the outskirts of Phanom Bencha National Park. It was now becoming drier as southern Thailand was coming to the end of its wet season. Even so, we still had several nights of good herping. We revisted this area several times over the next three months so here is a list of the species caught over a period of three short trips; 1 Small spotted coral snake, Calliophis maculiceps, 1 radiated ratsnake, Coelognathus radiatus, 4 Red-necked Keelbacks, Rhabdophis subminiatus, 1 8ft reticulated python, Python reticulatus, 1 Indo-chinese wolfsnake, Lycodon laoensis, 5 Golden Flying snakes, Chrysopelea ornata, 1 Puff-faced watersnake, Homalopsis buccata, and 1 Asian vinesnake, Ahaetulla prasina.

Malaysia – January 2008

After Krabi, we headed to Pulau Langkawi, as island off the western coast of peninsular Malaysia. We met up with 2 friends who work at Langkawi Snake Park and went on a few herping trips with them. On one evening we hired a car and headed up Gunung Raya, a mountain right in the centre of the island. As we were driving up, we came across a large reticulated python spread across the road. Even those this road was closed to the public at night, we thought it best to moved it as far from the road as we could, just to be sure. After moving it safely away, we continued our journey up, but sadly the only other snake species caught on this evening was a tiny reed snake, Calamaria sp.. On the second herping trip, we headed out during the day around a large waterfall called Telaga tujuh. Our first find of the day was a small yellow-phase Vine snake. We then caught another 6ft Reticulated python hidden amongst some rocks next to a stream, clearly trying to avoid the midday heat. After trekking right up to the waterfall, our final snake of the day was a Traingle keelback, Xenocrophis trianguligera, that was taking advantage of the abundance of frogs and tadpoles that were living in the stream. We also spent some time at Langkawi Snake Park, having the opportunity to work with many of the animals housed there.

After Langkawi we headed down to another island, Pulau Penang, which we used as a stepping stone before heading over to Sumatra. As we only had one night here, we headed straight up to Penang hill. A friend from Kuala Lumpur was also on the island at this time and so met up with us for a quick herping trip. Because we were out during the day, we weren’t expecting to find much, but were surprised when we found several adult and juvenile Waglers pitvipers, Tropidolaemus wagleri out basking.

Indonesia – Jan/February 2008

We then had a 6 hour boat journey over to Medan, Sumatra. Our aim for this part of the trip was not to find reptiles, but to see the elusive Sumatran Orangutan. We headed to Bukit-luwang and booked ourselves on a 2-day trek through the rainforest. Even though we were looking for orangutans, I of course was still on the look out for any snakes that may have crossed our path. The first find was only 10 minutes into the trek, where we spotted a small Paradise Tree snake, Chrysopelea paradisa, heading up a tree. Sadly I did not have to get my camera out to get a shot, but we still enjoyed watching the snake quickly disappear up through the branches. Later on that day, we also came across a sub-adult female Waglers Pitviper close to a village.

Borneo – February 2008

After Sumatra, we flew to the Island of Borneo. We flew into Kota Kinabalu and spent a few days making trips over to the Tunku Abdul Rahman national Park, which is made up of several small islands. On one of the islands, known as Sapi, we encountered nearly 30 adult Asian water monitors in the space of an hour. These were taking advantage of a fresh-water pool that had formed close to the beach after a spout of heavy rain.

After spending some time around the coast, we headed inland to Kinabalu National park. Sadly, we struck out both nights were there, apart from one Peters slender-toed gecko caught around the poring hot springs. We were however lucky to come across a Rafflesia, the largest flower species in the world. Feeling slightly disappointed with the last few days herping, we continued east to Sepilok Orangutan Reserve. Like in Sumatra, our aim here was to see the Orangutans, but I still found plenty of time to do some herping. I had been here 4 years earlier and caught several Borneo Temple pitvipers, Tropidolaemus subannulatus. The first snake to be caught on this trip to Sepilok was a Striped Bronzeback, Dendrolaphis caudolineatus, which was sunning itself on a large palm leaf. The next evening, just as it was getting dark, we decided to trek along a quiet stretch of road, and quickly came across a 2ft Sumatran Spitting Cobra, Naja sumatrana. This juvenile was bagged up and moved several hundred yards away from the road to ensure it did not get hit by a passing car or motorbike. We also came across a D.O.R Common Blind Snake, Rhamphotyplops braminus.

Borneo concluded the end or our trip. We flew to Bangkok and then headed back to the UK. Along with all the snakes mentioned, we also came across plenty of lizard and amphibian species not documented here.