SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

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mariquensis
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SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by mariquensis »

So I resigned from my job (with a new one already lined up), with 10 days to kill. Arranged with two of my best mates and we headed out on a road trip.
These type of trips can usually go either way, really great or you can get on each others backs which doesn't make for a pleasant time. Thankfully none of us were new how these trips worked so we have a dam good time. Of course there are a few species which i didn't photograph, a few lizards here and there as well as a couple of Cape Cobra's that shot across the road before i could even slam on breaks.

At some point in the early morning we departed Durban, through the Eastern Cape and Western Cape and everywhere in between in 7 days this is what we got up to:
Three provinces
4000kms Traveled
7.2 tanks of petrol
22 Petrol stations breaks
8 1/2 Pizza's

Here are some of the pictures of what we saw:

Species List: *Lifers
Acontias melagris - Cape Legless Skink.
Afroedura Karroica - Karoo Flat gecko.
Agama atra - Southern Rock Agama.
Varanus albigularis - Rock monitor
Amietophrynus rangeri - Raucous toad.
Aspidelaps lubricus - Coral Snake.
Bitis arietans - Puff Adder.
Bitis caudalis - Horned Adder
Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake.
Bradypodion damaranum - Knysna dwarf Chameleon.
Bufo gariepensis - Karoo Toad.
Causus rhombeatus - Rhombic Night adder
Chersina angulata - Angulate tortoise.
Chondrodactylus angulifer angulifer - Common Ground Gecko*
Chondrodactylus bibroni - Bibrons Gecko.
Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia - Herald Snake.
Dispholidus typus - BoomSlang.
Duberria lutrix - Common Slug Eater.
Goggia lineata - Striped Dwarf Leaf Toed Gecko
Homopus areolatus - Common Pad Loper ( Parrot Beaked)*
Karusasaurus polyzonus - Karoo Karusa Lizard.
Lamprophis guttatus - Spotted Rock Snake.
Lycodonomorphus rufulus - Common Brown Water Snake.
Lycodonomorphus inornatus - Olive Ground Snake.
Naja nivea - Cape Cobra.
Pachydactylus capensis - Cape Gecko*
Pachydactylus geitje - Ocellated Gecko
Pachydactylus mariquensis - Quartz Gecko.
Pachydactylus purcelli -Purcell's Gecko*
Psammophis notostictus - Karoo whip snake
Pelomedusa subrufa - Marsh terrapin.
Psammobates tentorius tentorius - Tent Tortoise*
Pseudocordylus microlepidotus fasciatus - Karoo Crag Lizard.
Stigmochelys pardalis - Leopard tortoise
Strongylopus grayii - Gray's Clicking Stream Frog.
Tetradactylus seps - Short Legged Seps.
Trachylepis capensis - Cape Skink.



Eastern Cape.
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Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - Graafreniet. The first species of the trip.
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Pseudocordylus microlepidotus fasciatus - Karoo Crag Lizard
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Valley Of Desolation - Graaff Reinet
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Searching for Flat Geckos
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Afroedura Karroica - Karoo Flat gecko - Graafreniet
As the name suggests they are extremely. well flat!
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Afroedura Karroica - Karoo Flat gecko - Habitat
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Varanus albigularis - Rock monitor
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Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - Graafreniet
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Long Straight empty roads.
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Gary with a decent sized Leopard Tortoise.
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Dispholidus typus - Boomslang , Beervleidam.
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Pelomedusa subrufa - Marsh terrapin.
Of course I made Gary picked it up as you can tell a bad idea.
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Habitat
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Cordylus - cordylus - Cape Girlded Lizard.
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Just before the Western Cape Border, First Leopard Tortoise of the trip.
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Welcome
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Acontias melagris- Cape Leggless Skink.
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Saasveld - George
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Bradypodion damaranum - Knysna Dwarf Chameleon - George.
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Indicative of Size.
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Causus rhombeatus - Rhombic Night adder.
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Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia - Herald Snake.
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Duberria lutrix - Common Slug Eater.
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Tetradactylus - seps- Short Legged Seps.
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Lycodonomorphus rufulus - Common Brown Water Snake.
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Amietophrynus rangeri - Raucous toad.
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Strongylopus grayii - Gray's Clicking Stream Frog. George
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Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
BY far the most common tortoise of the trip.
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Cordylus cordylus - Cape Girlded Lizard.
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Swartberg Pass - Western Cape
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Print Albert
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Hatchling Leopard Tortoise.
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We spent A LOT of time doing this
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Bitis caudalis - Horned Adder (One of several)
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Looking at this
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Chondrodactylus angulifer angulifer - Common Ground Gecko. Prince Albert
Male
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Female
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Male
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Chondrodactylus bibronii - Bibrons Gecko, Prince Albert.
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Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
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Merewville
On the main street
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Where everything close before 6pm
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Psammobates tentorius tentorius - Common Tent Tortoise
Whilst road cruising i spotted this "rock" on the opposite side of the road, my fellow occupants dismissed it as nothing. Made a quick U-Turn and what do we have here. Unusual for a tortoise to be sitting on warm road at 20:15pm we thought.
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The "lush" habitat of the Tent Tortoise
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No place for a Tortoise
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When you see it.
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Passing a lot of these
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Karoo Lamb
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Bitis arietans - Puff Adder, Outdshoorn
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Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
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Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - Oudtshoorn.
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Aspidelaps lubricus - Coral Snake. Oudtshoorn
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Goggia lineata - Striped Dwarf Leaf Toed Gecko.
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Bufo gariepensis - Karoo Toad
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Homopus - areolatus - Common Pad Loper(Parrot Beaked)
First find, no one was home in this shell.
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We stayed in some pretty fancy accommodation
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Naja nivea - Cape Cobra.
Speckled Cape Cobra.
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Dark Cobra
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Hatchling
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Rian and Gary for scale of hatchling.
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Pseudocordylus microlepidotus microlepidotus - Karoo Crag Lizard
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Rian photographing specimen in the Swartberg.
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Pachydactylus capensis - Cape Gecko
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Pachydactylus geitje - Ocellated Gecko
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Pachydactylus mariquensis - Quartz Gecko.
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Pachydactylus purcelli -Purcell's Gecko
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Agama atra - Southern Rock Agama
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Skelmdraai
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Way too many of these
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Chersina angulata - Angulate Tortoise.
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Mossel Bay.
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Grasslands
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Rian with a Cape Skink
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Trachylepis capensis - Cape Skink.
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Stigmochelys pardalis - Leopard tortoise
Thsi time of the year there were plenty of hatchlings.
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Boaedon capensis - Brown House Snake - MosselBay
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Karoo Whip Snake
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Lamprophis guttatus - Spotted Rock Snake
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The sort of photo's that make road trips.
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Thanks for looking!
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Trey
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by Trey »

Some nice shots, looks like a great time! The cobras were excellent, I especially enjoyed the Aspidelaps.
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DracoRJC
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by DracoRJC »

Those elapids are stupid cool - and I'm a diehard crote guy. Good stuff.
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Mike VanValen
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by Mike VanValen »

Really nice post. I love all the tortoise and habitat shots.
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Rothdigga
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by Rothdigga »

Good to see you on here Tyrone! We better link up when I'm back in SA this October...
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John Martin
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by John Martin »

Wow, very nice! I would have loved that trip :thumb: . BTW, very nice "Gary photobomb" here :lol:
mariquensis wrote: Image
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mariquensis
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by mariquensis »

John Martin wrote:Wow, very nice! I would have loved that trip :thumb: . BTW, very nice "Gary photobomb" here :lol:
mariquensis wrote: Image
Cheers John!

I only saw the hand whilst processing the images, at first i was annoyed but had a good laugh!
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mariquensis
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by mariquensis »

Rothdigga wrote:Good to see you on here Tyrone! We better link up when I'm back in SA this October...
Thanks man! Sure thing weathers cool then but I WILL make the mission this year. You better hold me to it ;)
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peterknuteberg
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by peterknuteberg »

Wonderful photos. What kind of camera were you shooting with?
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mariquensis
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by mariquensis »

peterknuteberg wrote:Wonderful photos. What kind of camera were you shooting with?
Thanks! Using
Canon 7D with a 100mm for most of the shots, addition lenses and a few iPhone photo's in the mix too.
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JEDDLV
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by JEDDLV »

Nice pics guys, really enjoyed looking, thanks
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Nshepard
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by Nshepard »

Damn, Tyrone. That is a lot of amazing.
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Kelly Mc
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by Kelly Mc »

Great pics .. but giving the finger is kind of a downer.. not really funny or edgy these days. More unfortunate probably though is being an adult man with dimples for knuckles.
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Wonderful trip, expertly presented. The energy and fun are palpable, and the cellphone shots make it more real.
Pseudocordylus microlepidotus fasciatus - Karoo Crag Lizard
What a creature!! Never seen anything like it. Looks like a crocodile for kindergartners. Or a forgotten dinosaur!

Thanks for sharing!
MCHerper
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Re: SOUTH AFRICA - THE KAROO [PHOTO HEAVY]

Post by MCHerper »

Some outstanding photos. The cobra pics are absolutely stunning, I want one on my wall!
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