International Herping

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Zajdel
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Joined: October 12th, 2014, 10:03 am

International Herping

Post by Zajdel »

Hello Everyone,

I'm in the process of beginning to consider planning a herp trip to another country. I've spent a deceit amount of time herping the southeast and California and would like to do some over seas herping. I haven't herped outside the U.S.A before and I am looking for suggestions on good countries/ places to herp for someone who is new to international herping. Any considerations or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
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Paul Freed
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Re: International Herping

Post by Paul Freed »

Welcome to the forum! You request is a bit more complicated than you might realize. There are so many factors in selecting a place to herp whether here or outside the U.S. For example, what are your specific goals, are you seeking a particular group of animals, how much time do you have, how much funding do you have, are you traveling alone, do you speak any other languages, is there a particular region or biome you are interested in (e.g. rainforest, desert, mountain, etc.), will you be collecting animals or just observing/photographing them, are you conducting any research, etc, etc? I could go on and on but I think you get the idea that such a vague request has many possibilities.

My first international trip was to Costa Rica, a relatively close destination with lots of interesting herps. The people are extremely friendly, it is not horribly expensive to get there or to stay, there are now many excellent field guides to the herps of that Central American nation and it has a nice diversity of habitats. That said, there are over 200 countries in the world and each one will have something fascinating and unique. Surely, you must have an some idea of what you want to see and where you would like to go.

I can pretty much guarantee that you will get a lot of responses to your inquiry but ultimately you will have to make a decision based on what your interests are and what you want to do. One other possibility is to join others that are seeing the same type of adventure as you are but then you won't have a hand in deciding where to go.

I hope some of this was helpful to you. Best of luck!

-Paul
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The Real Snake Man
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Re: International Herping

Post by The Real Snake Man »

I think you should clarify as to whether or not you have a set time to travel and are looking for an optimal place to herp inside that time window, or if you are looking for a good place to herp and will go there during the proper time once you've decided where to go. Timing can be everything, so if you have a certain time then find the right place for that time; if you have a place, then find the right time for that place. Other than that I have little to contribute; I haven't traveled much myself at all. Mexico is really alluring to me because of the rattlers, but it's not very safe.

-Gene
Zajdel
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Joined: October 12th, 2014, 10:03 am

Re: International Herping

Post by Zajdel »

Sorry for the vagueness (if that is a word). I should provide more information. I will be finishing up a tech job in March so any time in between March and September would be ideal. I mainly work as a tech so price is a huge factor for me and my trip would simply be for me. It would be nice to not have to follow research protocols for a bit (see section on working as a tech). Taxomonically-wise, I a huge generalist. I tend to get more excited about herps and non-insect inverts but I do consider myself a birder and wouldn't turn my nose up at mammals or insects either. Ideally I would like to go somewhere with a very high overall diversity. I'm a bit of a lister so seeing a large number of common species instead of a low number of rare species would be preferable. I intentionally kept it somewhat vague because I am very early in my planning process so I wanted to hear as many suggestions as possible. Thanks again.
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chrish
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Re: International Herping

Post by chrish »

Since you are interested in diversity but a relatively inexperienced traveler, I am going to suggest the neotropics. Also the neotropics will be cheaper and there are good guides/books to help you ID stuff.

Frankly the easy and most obvious answer is Costa Rica. This is a country set up for ecotourism, very easy for travelers from the US, and it is pretty easy to get around if you have limited knowledge of spanish. It is also politically stable and you can fly to San Jose from a lot of places in the US. The downside is it is a bit overpriced because of this, but I think it would be the place to get your feet wet. There is also a pretty good diversity of price ranges of accommodation. If you can, wait until later in the summer once the rainy season starts. Prices go down and the crowds are gone from the touristy areas.

Panama is also easy (they even use US money!), but not quite as well laid out for the ecotourist. It also has higher diversity than Costa Rica, but frankly for a first time visitor you wouldn't notice the difference.

Belize would be another easy place to consider. They speak English and are set up for tourism. They don't have quite the diversity of CR or Panama, but you could still see a huge amount of new things.

There are other Central American countries that would be interesting (Nicaragua, Honduras) but they don't have the tourist infrastructure yet and the bird/herp/mammal etc. field guides aren't as good or readily available.

While I love Mexico, I can't say I would recommend it as a stop for the first time traveler. The central plateau is interesting, but frankly just has southern forms of US species. The tropical lowlands would give you more diversity and more new stuff, plus more mammals and birds that would be new. The Yucatan is also great, but having to have the nagging worry about your safety (whether real or imagined) would take away from the experience.

Obviously, Australia is a great destination but you would be traveling in the austral winter and it is way more expensive than the other places (not just the flights).

All that rambling aside, I think Costa Rica is the obvious choice for a first trip. In spite of the fact that it is somewhat touristy in places, the herping/birding/mammal watching is still excellent. Once you get a feel for the "intricacies" of traveling like that, then your next trip can be to somewhere more adventurous. Myanmar sounds intriguing...... :lol:
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cbernz
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Re: International Herping

Post by cbernz »

I've been to Costa Rica 4 times now, and I will keep going back for as long as I can. As others have said, the diversity is high, it's pretty easy to get around, and outside of the city it's a safe place to travel. For me it was an easy decision as a first (and so far only) international herp destination, for the above reasons, plus the fact that I can usually get a non-stop flight for about the same cost and flight time as a flight to the west coast. Obviously you will see more stuff the longer your trip is, but it's possible to put together an excellent itinerary for a 4 or 5-day trip and see a wide variety of herps, birds, and other wildlife.
Zajdel
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Re: International Herping

Post by Zajdel »

Hmmm Costa Rica eh? I will look into it. Thank you for the opinions. I was slightly concerned about Costa Rica being touristy but hopefully I would be too busy herping to notice. How is March in Costa Rica? Lets get my first international trip out of the way and then I'm sure I'll be back on here asking about Myanmar.
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chrish
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Re: International Herping

Post by chrish »

Zajdel wrote:Hmmm Costa Rica eh? I will look into it. Thank you for the opinions. I was slightly concerned about Costa Rica being touristy but hopefully I would be too busy herping to notice. How is March in Costa Rica? Lets get my first international trip out of the way and then I'm sure I'll be back on here asking about Myanmar.
yes, much of Costa Rica is touristy. But the herping is still easily accessible and very productive. Furthermore you can get a lot of good advice about Costa Rica from all the people on this forum who have been there multiple times.

For Myanmar you may have to do a little more research on your own. :lol:
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Martti Niskanen
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Re: International Herping

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Costa Rica is obviously a great destination, but here's another suggestion from a non-US point of view. How about Thailand and/or peninsular Malaysia? No idea how much the flights would cost from the US, but living costs whilst there would be far lower than in CR. Both countries are extremely easy to travel and very safe. Also, the food is great. Everywhere. Thailand is touristy, but getting away from touristy places is easy. Peninsular Malaysia is far less touristy and easy to travel.
Flights to Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur (both cities are worth seeing and experiencing. Everyone should visit the madness of Bkk once in their lives). If needed, further flights with Air Asia, Nok Air and the like.

Good luck wherever you decide to go to.

edit: Myanmar might not be a good idea for a first offshore trip.
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VanAR
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Re: International Herping

Post by VanAR »

I agree that Costa Rica and Panama are good first choices.

Myanmar is probably not the best place to go in SE Asia, even though it is more stable now than it has been in years. Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos are safer if nothing else. Indonesia, especially Flores and Komodo, is also very inexpensive once you get there, though Bali is pricey. Some of my Aussie friends have recently gone to Malaysian Borneo and had an amazing time there. They probably found the highest snake diversity I've ever heard of from a short herp tourist trip in a tropical rainforest area.

Wherever you go, make sure you have good travel insurance and get copies of your passport and any necessary or important medical information. Make plans for dealing with potential bumps, like if you have things stolen or if you get sick or have an accident while herping. Some countries have universal healthcare, some don't (and don't recognize US insurance), and some simply don't have good healthcare. In the US we tend to take these kinds of things for granted, and the loss of awareness can be costly if you aren't careful. Not that you should be paranoid or anything- just aware. Even here in Australia I've (as an American) occasionally had to deal with certain situations differently from how I would have done so in the US.
luv_the_smellof_musk
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Re: International Herping

Post by luv_the_smellof_musk »

These guys would be an option if you do Ecuador http://www.tropicalherping.com/services/main.html. I agree Costa Rica is great. I haven't been there in many years but there used to be some great flight deals. I would set aside one day for something touristy, too. Sitting in a hot springs listening to Arenal rumble was a pretty cool experience and South America has some stunning train rides you can do through the mountains.
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