Herpetological trip to Australia
October 15th – November 6th 2019
Unless specified otherwise, pictures (c) of Jeroen Speybroeck.
not all, but most sites of observation
While the amphibian and reptile faunas of Australia may be not as colourful as those of some other parts of the world, there is more to be found than just loads of brown skinks. My main Australian target species were easy to guess. Like so many herpers, Thorny Devil
Moloch horridus has fascinated me from early age on. Weird, cute, unique,... the whole deal packed inside a small alien lizard. Undisputable second: finding a Green Tree Python
Morelia viridis in the jungle of Cape York. Furthermore, I was looking forward to finding large pythons, death adders, colourful frogs, ... Seeing a salty aka Saltwater Crocodile
Crocodylus porosus surely also had to happen. While the list just keeps going on, let me throw in monitors, blue-tongue skinks, Frilled Lizards
Chlamydosaurus kingii and a huge gecko diversity as Australia's herpetological essentials.
Attractive species being on the menu is one thing, finding them another. And how was I going to dance with large elapids and survive, totally lacking experience on that front? Fortunately, Australian Wildlife Encounters (AWE) was running a trip to Moloch country that I could attend. While I had promised myself never to do any organised group trips again since doing just one back in 2004, I wanted to enjoy the benefit of the skills and knowledge of local herpers, especially since I could not persuade any of my regular herping buddies to join me. What I found out about AWE through Facebook friends and others seemed very promising, so I registered for their Central Desert Tour from Alice Springs to Darwin. The main species, Thorny Devil, was to be on the menu, so that was already one box ticked. How about that other beauty? Surely, targetting Green Tree Python as well within the same trip would be too much? Let's go all the way! I told AWE that I would leave five days before the end of their desert tour and booked myself a final solo adventure of seven nights in the Iron Range plus one final night near Cairns. I took great, lazy pleasure in having a skilled herping guide for the first two weeks, and (very much unlike me...) largely restricted my preparations to drooling over green python pictures.
Many thanks to a top-notch herping guide (Lockie Gilding) and the crew of the first part of the trip (Justin Coburn and Simon Greppler, and also a little bit one-day European herping buddy Matthijs Hollanders). Many thanks to Susie Adamczyk for a lot of useful information, pointing out a couple of species, and the friendly chat in green python land. A guy from the UK named Ed also showed me a skink when we were cruising the same road one night, so thanks for that. For info before and during the trip many thanks to Shane Black, Tom Charlton, Jack Gamble, Jannico Kelk, Alexandre Roux, Andre Schokman and Rémon ter Harmsel. Finally, many thanks to the nice people I met at Lockhart River, including Paul Piva from Lockhart River Car Rental and Lynn and others at the Greenhoose.
CHAPTER 1 – Central Desert tour (South Australia & Northern Territory)
Autumn came to Belgium after yet another hot and dry summer, as I flew to the opposite side of the world and the opposite season, if you will. Flights from Brussels over Dubai and Melbourne finally dropped me into Alice Springs, straight into the heart of Australia's deserts. I had finally made it to this reptile wonderland. At the airport I was met by Lockie Gilding from AWE. Over the course of the next two weeks I would get to know this highly motivated herping hero as extremely knowledgeable and skillful in the art of Auzzie herping. His great sense of humour, positive mindset and warp speed added up to making him the perfect man for the job. He tried his very best and then still some more to lead us to the best sites along our route and went out of his way to feed my insatiable hunger for herpetological biodiversity. Besides myself, two other guys completed the crew: Simon Greppler from Germany and Justin Coburn from Canada. Both were returning AWE customers, so I was the only Australia newby. Travelling in such a small group kept things efficient and manageable. One thing I dislike about group trips is their pace, with things only getting in motion once everyone had a snack and a toilet break. No such nonsense here: Lockie kept us on edge in pursuit of a maximum of herp diversity given the sites, conditions and available time. A job very well done, which means a lot, coming from a difficult and demanding herpeto maniac.
The first few nights we spend in the rocky desert west of Alice Springs. Night time was the ticket for herping throughout the entire trip, but this was definitely also true here. Overall, conditions were harsh. Prolonged drought had us finding fairly low densities of often visibly suffering animals. Luckily, water-holding canyons offered some solace. Well now, I surely had not expected to be swimming through a narrow cold-water canyon straight after getting off the plane! Caught in this natural death trap, Lockie secured our first snake, a King Brown or Mulga Snake
Pseudechis australis. What a cool experience... The first nights of the trip were characterised by high gecko diversity, as we tried to pick up from Lockie how to find them. The canyons held our first few frog species. We soon recorded our first python species, Stimson's Python
Antaresia stimsoni, and a first round of excited boyish cheers followed roadcruising a Desert Death Adder
Acanthophis pyrrhus. It was on!
entering the Red Center
© Justin Coburn
Mulga Snake Pseudechis australis
Sharp-snouted Delma Delma nasuta - © Justin Coburn
Burton's Snake Lizard Lialis burtonis - © Justin Coburn
Southern Spiny-tailed Gecko Strophurus intermedius - © Justin Coburn
Centralian Knob-tailed Gecko Nephrurus amyae - © Justin Coburn
Mesa Gecko Diplodactylus galeatus - © Justin Coburn
Stimson's Python Antaresia stimsoni - © Justin Coburn
Myall Snake Suta suta - © Justin Coburn
Red Tree Frog Litoria rubella - © Justin Coburn
Centralian Marbled Velvet Gecko Oedura cincta
Inland Snake-eyed Skink Cryptoblepharus australis
Desert Death Adder Acanthophis pyrrhus
Unbanded Shovel-nosed Snake Brachyurophis incinctus - © Justin Coburn
Centralian Tree Frog Litoria gilleni - © Justin Coburn
On the 3rd day, October 17th, we started a one night back-and-forth further south to Coober Pedy. The barren and desolate habitat of the Inland Taipan
Oxyuranus microlepidotus did not charm me too much, I must confess, although it certainly blew my mind that a large snake could survive in the subterraneous universe of this place. Especially given the dry conditions, we didn't stay here much longer, and would even have cancelled this detour, if not for some bird targets Simon wanted to grab here.
Tessellated Gecko Diplodactylus tessellatus
On the 18th we fled back north again.
Central Bearded Dragon Pogona vitticeps
Central Bearded Dragon Pogona vitticeps
Eyrean Earless Dragon Tympanocryptis tetraporophora
Before briefly revisiting the surroundings of Alice Springs, we first headed towards Yulara. This was not just any destination, no, no, no - the red sands around the famous Uluru rock are where we meant to look for one of the most bizarre herp species in the world, and one which has been in my global top 3 of bucket list species since forever. In the late afternoon, even before re-entering the Northern Territory, there it was already, sitting in the middle of the road! Thorny Devil
Moloch horridus! Sheer utter joy! I cannot remember when I lost my $%&# like that when finding a new species... I may be responsible for some hearing loss for my travel companions. What a fantastic, out-of-this-world little creature..... There and then I had no idea how great the rest of the trip was still going to be, but the 31st species on the growing list was enough to make this an outstanding trip all by itself.
Thorny Devil Moloch horridus
Thorny Devil Moloch horridus
Thorny Devil Moloch horridus
Thorny Devil Moloch horridus and me - © Lockie Gilding
The following two nights added among others another five species of gecko to our findings.
Beaded Gecko Lucasium damaeum
Pale Knob-tailed Gecko Nephrurus laevissimus
Pale Knob-tailed Gecko Nephrurus laevissimus
Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko Nephrurus levis
Western Hooded Scaly-foot Pygopus nigriceps
Monk Snake Parasuta monachus
Desert Banded Snake Simoselaps anomalus
Snakewise things were relatively slow, but no one was complaining, especially as we turned up a second Thorny Devil.
Thorny Devil Moloch horridus
Thorny Devil Moloch horridus
Thorny Devil Moloch horridus
Thorny Devil Moloch horridus
Fourteen-lined Ctenotus Ctenotus quattuordecimlineatus
After Yulara, a second, shorter stay at Alice Springs had Justin finding us a gorgeous Centralian Carpet Python
Morelia bredli, surely not an everyday find.
Centralian Carpet Python Morelia bredli
Centralian Carpet Python Morelia bredli
Centralian Carpet Python Morelia bredli
Heading further north, we got a Centralian Bluetongue Skink
Tiliqua multifasciata on the road. It too seemed in suboptimal state, so not too much tongue flicking going on.
Centralian Bluetongue Tiliqua multifasciata
Centralian Bluetongue Tiliqua multifasciata
Spinifex Slender Blue-tongue Cyclodomorphus melanops
Green Tree Frog Litoria caerulea
Green Tree Frog Litoria caerulea
The next day, October 22nd and day n°8 of our trip, we finally got up close to some monitor lizards too, starting with a Spencer’s Monitor
Varanus spenceri in a very poor state. Next, Lockie and I followed the tracks of a large Yellow-spotted Monitor
Varanus panoptes to its burrow. The animal was way too big to fit into the hole it had chosen, so we managed to get it out for a meet and greet.
Spencer's Monitor Varanus spenceri
Spencer's Monitor Varanus spenceri
Yellow-spotted Monitor Varanus panoptes
Yellow-spotted Monitor Varanus panoptes
Yellow-spotted Monitor Varanus panoptes
Yellow-spotted Monitor Varanus panoptes
After some fairly unproductive birding attempts for Simon, we reached Edith Falls at the end of the 22nd, our 8th day. Lockie had promised us a herping and swimming paradise and he had not been lying- what a wonderful place! Some new frogs, more geckos and a couple of new snake species were found. One tree overhanging the rapids thus getting some spray humidity and cooling held a beautiful golden Common Tree Snake
Dendrelaphis punctulatus and two 'night tiger' Brown Tree Snakes
Boiga irregularis.
Cane Toad Rhinella marina
Saw-shelled Turtle Wollumbinia latisternum
Mitchell's Water Monitor Varanus mitchelli - © Lockie Gilding
Northern Marbled Velvet Gecko Oedura marmorata
Brown Tree Snake Boiga irregularis
Brown Tree Snake Boiga irregularis
Common Tree Snake Dendrelaphis punctulatus
Common Tree Snake Dendrelaphis punctulatus
Common Tree Snake Dendrelaphis punctulatus
The next night, we got our first Water
Liasis fuscus and Olive Python
Liasis olivaceus. Such cool animals...
Water Python Liasis fuscus
Olive Python Liasis olivaceus
Children's Python Antaresia childreni
Northern Spiny-tailed Gecko Strophurus ciliaris
While at night with some dedication you could get quite good viewing of Freshwater Crocodile
Crocodylus johnstoni, swimming up to basking Mertens Water Monitors
Varanus mertensi was one of the most entertaining experiences of the trip. We stayed for three nights. I wouldn't mind living there permanently.
somebody’s been sleeping in my shoe
Mertens' Water Monitor Varanus mertensi
Mertens' Water Monitor Varanus mertensi
Mertens' Water Monitor Varanus mertensi
Greater Black Whipsnake Demansia papuensis
After spending one night in Katherine on birding business, the remaining four nights I had with the group were run out of Darwin. Lockie got us an AirB&B apartment, and it was great to get some sleep in a real bed, while heading out in all directions for some sweet herping. An iconic species we found inside the city was Frilled Lizard
Chlamydosaurus kingii.
Frilled Lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii
Frilled Lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii
Frilled Lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii
Wading through mangrove mud to find three mudsnake species and staying clear of water that might be home to large bity things was another fun herping adventure.
Australian Bockadam Cerberus australis
Richardson's Mangrove Snake Myron richardsonii
White-bellied Mangrove Snake Fordonia leucobalia
White-bellied Mangrove Snake Fordonia leucobalia
We started seeing more frogs, especially in Litchfield NP, although also in the more humid Top End we didn't get huge rainfall amounts leading to massive bursts of herp activity.
Swamplands Lashtail Amphibolurus temporalis
Swamplands Lashtail Amphibolurus temporalis
Mertens' Water Monitor Varanus mertensi
/
Mertens' Water Monitor Varanus mertensi
/
Wotjulum Frog Litoria wotjulumensis
Roth's Tree Frog Litoria rothii
Northern Territory Frog Austrochaperina adelphe
Rocket Frog Litoria nasuta
Marbled Frog Limnodynastes convexiusculus
Giant Frog Cyclorana australis
Ornate Burrowing Frog Platyplectrum ornatum
Northern Dwarf Tree Frog Litoria bicolor
Copland's Rock Frog Litoria coplandi
Keelback Tropidonophis mairii
Children's Python Antaresia childreni
Brown Tree Snake Boiga irregularis
Orange-sided Bar-lipped Skink Eremiascincus douglasi
Northern Ridge-tailed Monitor Varanus primordius
One day, I joined an organised boat trip on the Corroboree Billabong to get up close with freshies, but also and mainly Saltwater Crocodile
Crocodylus porosus. Definitely the way to go if you want to get good viewing in (and not become a snack). Such beasts!
Freshwater Crocodile Crocodylus johnstoni
Freshwater Crocodile Crocodylus johnstoni
Saltwater Crocodile Crocodylus porosus
Saltwater Crocodile Crocodylus porosus
Saltwater Crocodile Crocodylus porosus
Saltwater Crocodile Crocodylus porosus
We kept at our nocturnal routine combining roadcruising with checking for File Snake
Acrochordus arafurae, which we eventually found several of in one particular creek. Wet socks filled with gravel, as Lockie would say, and definitely the weirdest snake I have seen so far. A second death adder species later that night turned it into another one to remember.
Arafura File Snake Acrochordus arafurae
Arafura File Snake Acrochordus arafurae
Top End Death Adder Acanthophis rugosus
Top End Death Adder Acanthophis rugosus
Top End Death Adder Acanthophis rugosus
As their relatives further east are less good looking, I was pleased to hike up here already a beautiful Black-headed Python
Aspidites melanocephalus during my last night with the guys. Before I left for a whole new trip chapter, European herping buddy currently living in Australia Matthijs Hollanders joined in, with a one day overlap. Great to catch up with him, even just for a day!
Black-palmed Monitor Varanus glebopalma
Black-palmed Monitor Varanus glebopalma
Black-palmed Monitor Varanus glebopalma
Zigzag Velvet Gecko Amalosia rhombifer
King's Dtella Gehyra koira
Bynoe's Gecko Heteronotia binoei
Northern Marbled Velvet Gecko Oedura marmorata
Toadlet sp. Uperoleia sp.
Children's Python Antaresia childreni
Children's Python Antaresia childreni
Northern Small-eyed Snake Cryptophis pallidiceps
Freshwater Crocodile Crocodylus johnstoni
Olive Python Liasis olivaceus
Macleay's Water Snake Pseudoferania polylepis
Black-headed Python Aspidites melanocephalus
Black-headed Python Aspidites melanocephalus
Black-headed Python Aspidites melanocephalus
And then it was time to say goodbye to the guys. While I knew I would probably miss out on Pig-nosed Turtle
Carettochelys insculpta and other cool species, I just had to try to go find that n° 2, Green Tree Python.
a few…
CHAPTER 2 – Northeastern Queensland
Allowing ample time, I had booked 7 nights at the amazing Greenhoose at Lockhart River, which would then be followed by a single final night near Cairns. I was anxious to find out if I was going to succeed in turning up a green python, all by myself and during the driest part of a dry year. The 'you will get one' support of many did not help in keeping the pressure in check.
Because rains (although usually hitting rather from December onwards) can rule out driving from Cairns into the Iron Range, I had decided to fly in to Lockhart River. At the airport, I was met by friendly car rental guy Paul Piva. I immediately loved the away-from-it-all vibe of this place. I can only imagine what the rainforest must have looked like before cyclone Terrence made a lot of the larger trees fall earlier this year, but this was still a stunning place. Down the road, Chilli Beach is also very beautiful, and that's coming from someone with not a lot of love for beaches.
My daily routine would focus on herping nights, roadcruising during the first few hours of the night and then hiking along the forest edge and near creeks. Daytime was used for some early morning hikes, while the hottest part of the day was used to get some sleep. This place was quite a different world from the parts of the country I had seen so far, so of course I soon found quite a number of new species. Frog highlights were the large White-lipped Tree Frog
Litoria infrafrenata and the Cape York Graceful Tree Frog
Litoria bella.
Schmeltz's Rainbow Skink Carlia schmeltzii
Striped Snake-eyed Skink Cryptoblepharus virgatus
Northern Tree Snake Dendrelaphis calligastra
Northern Tree Snake Dendrelaphis calligastra
Brown-headed Snake Furina tristis
Giant Tree Gecko Pseudothecadactylus australis
Australian Wood Frog Hylarana daemeli
Green Tree Frog Litoria caerulea
White-lipped Tree Frog Litoria infrafrenata
Cape York Graceful Tree Frog Litoria bella
Orange-naped Snake Furina ornata
Spotted Python Antaresia maculosa
Spotted Python Antaresia maculosa
Spotted Python Antaresia maculosa
Snakes turned up irregularly but steadily, with the third night standing out with 10 snakes. Those 10 started off with a first Scrub Python
Simalia kinghorni shown to me by Susie Adamczyk who I met spotlighting the roadsides. Susie would become very helpful for planning the remainder of my trip later on. I went on to find three more scrubbies that night.
Scrub Python Simalia kinghorni
Scrub Python Simalia kinghorni
Scrub Python Simalia kinghorni
Scrub Python Simalia kinghorni
Scrub Python Simalia kinghorni
Brown Tree Snake Boiga irregularis
By the time snake movement on the road seemed to be slowing down, I was thinking of going to bed, as the previous all-nighters were starting to take their toll on me. But hey, that green boy wasn't going to find itself. First, I went a bit wilder, trying to find a hiking trail the cyclone had obscured. Don't ask me why. Other than getting lost and losing a lot of sweat, this was not getting me anywhere herp-wise. So back to hiking roadsides. Maybe just a few kms and then off to bed. It was only night n°3 after all, still 4 left to reach total exhaustion. So, I started again scanning branches and sticks, spotlighting into the vegetation as far as I could. After only a short while, very close to the ground and right next to the road, there it was! Coiled up so beautifully... What an absolute gem of a snake! I couldn't believe I had actually succeeded in my crazy plan to hit both Auz top species in a single trip. This is about as good as herping gets. Unreal!
Green Tree Python Morelia viridis
Green Tree Python Morelia viridis
Green Tree Python Morelia viridis
Green Tree Python Morelia viridis
Green Tree Python Morelia viridis
Green Tree Python Morelia viridis
The next few days I could slowly and steadily add a few more species, failing however repeatedly at monitor spotting- maybe not my thing somehow... Chatting with Susie, who is highly knowledgeable on the wildlife of northern Queensland, made me leave wonderful Lockhart River earlier, as there was a bunch of cool species waiting for me near Cairns. So, I changed the 7 + 1 night plan to a 5 + 3 plan. First, after finding my green snake target, I still had two days to enjoy Lockhart River some more. What a great place, including splendid accommodation at the Greenhoose! One late morning, while driving to the boat ramp for maybe a basking salty, a big Northern Blue-tongue
Tiliqua scincoides was sitting on the road. Amazing creature, with the funniest threat display!
Black-tailed Bar-lipped Skink Glaphyromorphus nigricaudis
Northern Blue-tongue Tiliqua scincoides
Northern Blue-tongue Tiliqua scincoides
Northern Blue-tongue Tiliqua scincoides
At sunset on my final day in the Iron Range, I first went to a coastal site to flip some tin. Flipped as much as I could, hoping to be at least lucky enough to see a large highly venomous snake take off like an arrow, while having no clue how to dance with it for photos and be safe. I discovered my snake hook was missing, so drove after dark back to Chilli Beach, to check for my hook where I had parked the car earlier that day. Not the plan, as I meant to focus on jungle cruising for my last night in Lockhart River. It got to 8 or 8:30 pm without a single snake. Slow night. Then, finally a big animal on the road. Can only be another Scrub Python. I thought. But hey, this one looks damn shiny... To my absolute surprise, a 2m plus Coastal Taipan
Oxyuranus scutellatus! I couldn't believe my luck! Maybe because it was dark, I could even take some pictures without the snake shooting off. What an impressive creature! I remember thinking how the alert way it moves gives away that this is an intelligent predator, although that little piece of anthropomorphism may have been fed by my emotions at the time. Well, sure left Lockhart River with a bang!
Coastal Taipan Oxyuranus scutellatus
Coastal Taipan Oxyuranus scutellatus
Coastal Taipan Oxyuranus scutellatus
The next day, I flew back to Cairns, picked up a car and hit a jungle spot after nightfall.
Soon, I found some new frogs and two large and wonderful gecko species - the ground-dwelling Chameleon Gecko
Carphodactylus laevis and, glued to the trees, Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko
Saltuarius cornutus. I was surprised to see how big and slow-moving both species are. It got very late when I explored some more creek habitat, finding more frogs, with Lace-lid Frog
Litoria dayi as my favourite. I decided to sleep in the car, although that didn't go too well.
Green-eyed Tree Frog Litoria serrata
Chameleon Gecko Carphodactylus laevis
Chameleon Gecko Carphodactylus laevis
Jungguy Frog Litoria jungguy
Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko Saltuarius cornutus
Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko Saltuarius cornutus
Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko Saltuarius cornutus
Common Mist Frog Litoria rheocola
Czechura's Shade Skink Saproscincus czechurai
Jungguy Frog Litoria jungguy
Australian Lace-lid Frog Litoria dayi
Australian Lace-lid Frog Litoria dayi
Australian Lace-lid Frog Litoria dayi
In daytime, I quite easily found Boyd's Forest Dragon
Hypsilurus boydii and (via another boat ride) Water Dragon
Intellagama lesueurii at Lake Barrine.
Boyd's Forest Dragon Hypsilurus boydii in habitat
Boyd's Forest Dragon Hypsilurus boydii
Boyd's Forest Dragon Hypsilurus boydii
Boyd's Forest Dragon Hypsilurus boydii
Scrub Python Simalia kinghorni
Water Dragon Intellagama lesueurii
Given the little time I had left, I decided to focus on finding a Carpet Python
Morelia spilota. After three frustrating DORs, I finally managed to find a stunning individual of the beautiful local subspecies on my very last night in Australia. With this final stroke of luck, my trip got a fitting and splendid conclusion.
Pink-tongued Skink Cyclodomorphus gerrardii
Slaty-grey Snake Stegonotus cucullatus - by far the most restless snake species of the trip
Northern Dwarf Crowned Snake Cacophis churchilli
Scrub Python Simalia kinghorni
Scrub Python Simalia kinghorni
Carpet Python Morelia spilota
Carpet Python Morelia spilota
Carpet Python Morelia spilota
Carpet Python Morelia spilota
After all the driving, just for fun, I had to add a little waterfall climb for the weird and very shy Waterfall Frog
Litoria nannotis, but then it really was game over.
Waterfall Frog Litoria nannotis
What an absolutely mind-blowing trip it has been... Even without rain, I got to see practically all the species I hoped to see and so much more. I am now deeply in love with this ridiculously stunning country.
Species list
