A couple of weeks holiday and time to get away from congested Phuket and explore the Thai peninsula once again. This was supposed to be an extended trip with Belgian friends Peter and Anniek (like last year), meeting Ian, Ton and Rushen in the south for a week or so in between. However, for reasons beyond our control, that did not work out and I ended up traveling alone for the majority of the time. This still worked out okay and this actually allowed me to specifically target a species that would require long hours in the car and that perhaps would not be to everyones’ liking. More about that later..

Phuket

December saw huge numbers of tourists on Phuket, and this included lots of herpers. In fact, that entire month it was becoming normal to meet several groups of people looking for snakes in the same few locations still available on the island. I guess this has both positive and negative aspects to it. Among those was a friend of mine, Aleksandar who was traveling around Thailand with his mate Milivoj. Our team of six were also joined by Nathaniel and our nights in the mangroves and the forested hills of Phuket were incredibly successful. Nat had already found several individuals of the marine file snake (Acrochordus granulatus) which had eluded me until now. These were supplemented with the usual crab-eating snakes (Fordonia leucobalia), bockadams (Cerberus schneiderii) and Cantor’s mud snakes (Cantoria violacea). The following evening we headed to the hills, minus Kat who had flown home to Slovakia for Christmas. We almost instantly found everyone’s main target: a gorgeous male Phuket pit viper (Trimeresurus phuketensis). We saw 7 of these vipers that night, as well as 3 Wagler’s pit vipers (Tropidolaemus wagleri), a Drapiez’s cat snake (Boiga drapiezii), mock viper (Psammodynastes pulverulentus), 12 vine snakes (Ahaetulla prasina), 2 black-banded keelbacks (Rhabdophis nigrocinctus) and 2 Malayan banded kraits (Bungarus candidus), one of which was a real giant.

Krabi/Trang/Satun

We headed to nearby Krabi province for 1 night and despite some effort in areas where we have seen lots of species before very little was found. Only two beautiful pit vipers (Trimeresurus venustus) could be found and not much else. Moving on to Trang and Satun provinces we had a failed attempt at finding the newly described limestone eyelash pit viper (Trimeresurus ciliaris). We put in a good effort but we had heard that densities of this snake were low and that our chance of success was therefore limited. One evening while exploring one such limestone habitat in Satun a minor disaster occurred while attempted to photograph a yellow-striped racer (Coelognathus flavolineatus). Peter fell onto the sharp karst and acquired a very nasty wound on his leg. This involved driving straight to the international hospital in Trang and after two days which marked the arrival of an infection in the wound, we decided that we should abandon the trip and return to Phuket. This also meant cancelling our plan to meet Ian, Ton and Rushen in Narathiwat the same week.

Peter would require daily hospital visits for 2 weeks and therefore I would head north by myself and spend time in my favourite area for both wildlife watching and relaxing, which is Baan Maka Nature Lodge and the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi. I said farewell to the Belgians, but our plan was to hopefully meet up at some point once they were able to leave Phuket which may coincide with my drive back south.

Surat Thani/Ranong

I stopped by Khao Sok National Park for one night to meet my friend Mint for a bit of herping. I had just started to feel the results of another sinus infection so my energy levels were very low. I raced back to Phuket to see my doctor who prescribed me some steroids for the next 2 weeks. It seems that I cannot have a field trip these days without either antibiotics, steroids or some other medication being needed. Needless to say by the time I began hiking in Khao Sok, my enthusiasm was not great and we didn’t find much. Sorry, Mint!

The next day I was already feeling considerably better for the next leg of the journey. I stopped by in Ranong province and that evening the snakes came thick and fast. Two banded kraits (Bungarus fasciatus), a reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus), a cave racer (Elaphe taeniura), monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia) and then a wonderful spotted keelback (Fowlea punctulata). The latter is a species that I had never seen before, and it is only known to occur in this part of Thailand. All of these snakes were photographed in situ, these days I try to do this whenever possible to avoid stressing animals for my own selfish photography needs. In particular, I enjoyed watching the monocled cobra on the hunt for several minutes and I much prefer my photos of this species without the flared hood in a defensive posture. Another rare find was a juvenile brown fish owl (Ketupa zeylonensis) which has a restricted range in the country and I was happy to see it for the first time.

Phetchaburi

For the next week I would spend time in various locations in Phetchaburi province, mainly Kaeng Krachan National Park and Baan Maka Nature Lodge would be my home base. Aside from wildlife watching I would devour a full English breakfast every day, washed down with couple of Indian pale ales. After all, I was still on medication so some relaxation was in order, even if those risked increasing blood pressure! The first day that I arrived in the area I immediately started thinking about one thing, and sorry, it is not a reptile. The Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri) is a very difficult species to target, and you have to be very lucky to even get a glimpse of one. I had managed just that in 2020 but my photos were less than satisfactory. Despite the misfortune of how this trip had gone so far, I was now presented with an opportunity to dedicate lots of time to seeing the leopard again. I was alone and didn’t need to worry about anyone else getting bored sitting in the car, waiting for long hours and trying to track down one of these rare Felids. I enquired with one of the rangers if any leopard had been seen recently. He told me that one had been seen the previous day, but he didn’t say where!

THE BLACK LEOPARD

And so it began, my attempts to see this critically endangered subspecies of leopard. By the end of the first day, I was already feeling like this was going to be like so many of my other trips to this area when I never got to see it. A flat tire on my first morning was also a bad omen, I wasted half a day trying to find a replacement. Then back to the leopard search later in the day and, all of a sudden, it appeared on the road and ran off into the forest. A good omen! I’d seen one on the very first day. This excitement soon turned to despair as three more days passed without any further sighting. I had spent so much time in my car already, which I tried to supplement with some morning and evening strolls but at the same time knowing that when I was walking in the habitat that I had even less chance to see the big cat.

Then, one afternoon on day 4 in the area I was driving along and saw a black shape out of the corner of my eye (I had stopped paying attention at that point!). The leopard was out in the open and drinking from a pond! I hit the brakes and inevitably the cat retreated to the forest. But not for long. Moments later it reappeared at the tree line, watching me intently for several minutes. Finally, I got some satisfactory images! I didn’t see it again that day, despite waiting until dark. The following day, I decided to silently wait at the same location, knowing that the chances of it reappearing were very slim. Only 5 minutes after arriving, I couldn’t believe my eyes when the leopard walked out of the forest at the exact spot where it was the previous day. But this time for around 10 seconds or so. An hour or so later, a Muntjac deer appeared out of the forest and began grazing. Suddenly, it jumped into the air in a panic and ran off at top speed. Moments later, the black leopard slowly walked out of the forest again. This time it stayed in the open for several minutes and I got my best series of photos of this rare and incredibly shy big cat. Another hour passed, and around dusk it then appeared on the road right in front of my car! I was very happy with these short, but exciting encounters and I felt that my persistence and hard work had really paid off. Attempts were made the following days to see the leopard again, but I only got a brief glimpse of it running across the road and it never appeared again at the spot where I had taken my photos despite a lot more sitting around and waiting.

But what about the bloody reptiles? You’re a herpetologist, right? I did see two interesting snake species in the area. The Huahin kukri snake (Oligodon huahin) and a juvenile Siamese cat snake (Boiga siamensis). The former I had only seen as a roadkill on previous visits so it was nice to find and photograph a live one. Numerous white-lipped pit vipers (Trimeresurus albolabris), painted bronzebacks (Dendrelaphis pictus), small banded kukri snake (Oligodon fasciolatus), vine snakes (Ahaetulla prasina) were seen almost on a daily basis and a red-tailed racer (Gonyosoma oxycephalum) was seen resting in the same tree for several days. Generally, there didn’t seem to be too much snake activity compared to my visits to this area in April/May. Among the other wildlife highlights was twice meeting Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) while I was out walking. This is the first time this has happened, as typically I only see them when I am driving around.

Towards the end of my stay I met fellow herper Justin who was on a road trip himself. I invited him to join me one evening and we hit the jackpot just after dark. A 3 metre King cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) was hunting by the side of the road. This species is always one of the highlights of any trip where I am lucky enough to encounter it, and this was no exception. This individual also happened to be the largest of the ‘northern’ kings that I have seen in this area, which made taking photos somewhat of a challenge!

As I was driving back south to Phuket, I stopped by the place where I had the brown fish owl juvenile the previous week. I really wanted to see the adult bird, as it is only known from a small number of locations in Thailand. Peter was also fit enough to finally leave Phuket and so we decided to meet up there for one night. Snakes were not so plentiful in terms of species, but we didn’t complain at 5 banded kraits and 3 cave racers. Then, I got my eyes on a large owl which flew from the ground into a nearby tree. It was the adult brown fish owl! Luckily, it stayed still for some time and I managed to get some photos. This success made the drive back to Phuket the next day a lot easier.

Overall despite lots of changes to the itinerary and various problems along the way, I had a thoroughly enjoyable field trip. I enjoyed relaxing at the lodge in the evening instead of intense night searches, literally just what the doctor ordered. But the time I did not invest into finding snakes at night was used during the daytime to finally get a good series of photos of one of Thailand’s rarest and most secretive predators. I was buzzing with satisfaction in the car all the way home..

Snake species list (several I was too lazy to photograph having done so many times before):

1. Malayopython reticulatus
2. Acrochordus granulatus 
3. Pareas berdmorei
4. Cerberus schneiderii
5. Hypsiscopus plumbea
6. Enhydris enhydris
7. Fordonia leucobalia
8. Cantoria violacea
9. Fowlea punctulata
10. Rhabdophis nigrocinctus
11. Ahaetulla prasina
12. Boiga drapiezii
13. Boiga melanota
14. Boiga siamensis
15. Chrysopelea ornatus
16. Dendrelaphis pictus
17. Oligodon fasciolatus
18. Oligodon huahin
19. Ptyas korros
20. Coelognathus radiatus
21. Coelognathus flavolineatus
22. Gonyosoma oxycephalum
23. Elaphe taeniura
24. Psammodynastes pulverulentus
25. Ophiophagus hannah
26. Naja kaouthia
27. Bungarus candidus
28. Bungarus fasciatus
29. Trimeresurus albolabris
30. Trimeresurus venustus
31. Trimeresurus phuketensis
32. Tropidolaemus wagleri