Southern Morocco, April/May 2018

Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia, Libya, Egypt, Sinai

Southern Morocco, April/May 2018

Postby Daniel Kane » Fri May 18, 2018 2:49 pm

After such an enjoyable week during 2017 I was keen to head back to southern Morocco this year with a friend from work. The hope was to see some of the herp & mammal species not seen on the last trip as well as re-visiting some old locations which had been good in the past. Two of us set out on April 26th and returned happy from a week in the desert on May 3rd.

April 26th
After arriving in Sidi Ifni mid-afternoon we explored the coastal area under dense cloud and light rain. The section of road south of the town was under heavy re-development which meant much of the old tarmac had been removed and dirt tracks criss-crossed the remaining sections of this road. Flipping revealed many invertebrates including scorpions (Buthus and Androctonus) & spiders (Lycosa). Plenty of sand rats and ground squirrels as well as their avian predators: one Bonelli's eagle (seen daily in this location), two short-toed eagles circling overhead and three lanner falcons perched together on an electricity cable.

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Lycosa sp.


A nocturnal search in this area showed only a small selection of amphibians and Tarentola mauritanica.

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Sclerophrys mauritanica


April 27th
Today we headed inland to try and find some sun. A few stops along the way to see some animals we hadn't seen before were successful.

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Hyla meridionalis


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Quedenfeldtia moerens


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Quedenfeldtia moerens doing what they do


Once we got to Assa a DOR Telescopus tripolitanus and two Spalerosophis dolichospilus hinted at the good time of year for these species as experienced by others in this region in the last week. We were hopeful for something good!

We spent the night camping in this region. A couple of locations were explored this night including south and west of the town. Some interesting finds between Assa and Zag included Ptyodactylus oudrii, sleeping Uromastyx nigriventris, Myriopholis algeriensis and Echis leucogaster. One highlight for both is us was getting close to a Ruppell's fox on top of a flat-topped ancient coral reef which rose from the desert plateau - the whole area was littered with fossils and sedimentary rocks (and geckos). We would end up seeing this fox the following day as well as later in the week.

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Chalcides boulengeri - note the transparent eyelid


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Ptyodactylus oudrii


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Tarentola boehmei


In the place where we found the Echis, at around 1:30am we realised we were not the only people in this Oued... Hearing items being banged together and people moving around between our location and where we left the car we decided it was best to leave without finding out who joined us. Navigating using moon light to see and vegetation for cover we made it back to the car without being seen - a bit of excitement early on in the trip! A golden jackal near our camp finished a successful night for us.

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Hottentotta gentili - very numerous in the cracked mud


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Myriopholis algeriensis found active on the surface at night


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Myriopholis algeriensis


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Echis leucogaster


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Echis leucogaster - active when the ground temperature was 19.5 degrees


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Echis leucogaster


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Echis leucogaster scale detail


April 28th
We amused ourselves in and around Assa/Zag this day. Daytime temperatures went up to mid 30's which brought out Uromastyx as well as a nice golden jackal which we could watch make its way across the desert from the top of Fox Hill. A DOR Spalerosophis was our only snake this day.

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Fox Hill


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Uromastyx nigriventris


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Djebel Ouarkziz sunset


This night the wind picked up and the temperature dropped into the low teens. It was enough for geckos to be active but not really anything else of interest, so after some cruising and seeing another jackal we camped in the lee of our car. We didn't know it at this point but the wind and cool temperatures wouldn't really leave us for the remainder of this week.

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Nicely-coloured Tarentola boehmei


April 29th
This morning we discussed a few options - head to Tarfaya and hope for good weather, stay in Assa for a third day (windy and cold, only 16 degrees by day), head back toward the coast but somewhere closer.. We settled on seeing what Plage Blanc was like and we'd take it from there. Not seeing many animals on the way aside from a DOR Libyan wildcat between Fask and Gulemim before we got to the classic Natrix location on the way to the beach. Here the wind was relentless and we saw only Acanthodactylus aureus sheltering behind a bush and a few frogs tucked inside grass tussocks. On the road heading west we came across a fresh roadkill (ca. 1 hour ago) Bitis arietans. Checking every well we could get into produced zero herps. Clearly snakes were moving in the day here so with a few more runs up and down this road we found another dead Bitis (decapitated). We decided to head back to Sidi Ifni for this night where we had an amazing grilled fish dinner at Legzira followed by sheltering from the rain in our hotel.

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Agama impalearis


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Ground squirrels, not long out of the nest


April 30th
Daytime spent around the coast and at FBJ. No end of flipping produced a few Tarentola and little else. A shy Hemorrhis hippocrepis was found basking but was not keen to re-emerge after being disturbed. Checking this area later in the day it was in shade, however on another wall a striped Psammophis schokari was basking.

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Coastal habitat near Sidi Ifni


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Hemorrhois hippocrepis


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Saurodactylus brosseti


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Psammophis schokari basking


This evening we hit the road hoping to see some live snakes. Heading up into the mountains the car thermometer was reading 11 degrees and it was starting to rain when we found our first Dasypeltis sahelensis - the jewel of the sahel! While photographing this in the adjacent cacti plantation we heard a car pull up by ours. Assuming it would be a local guy, imagine the surprise on the emerging police officers' face when in response to his question "what are you doing"?! he was greeted with a big smile and an egg-eating snake from the headtorch-wearing tourists in the night. A few laughs later we got back to photography and they continued on patrol. Something tells me we weren't the first herpers these guys had encountered.

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Dasypeltis sahelensis


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Dasypeltis sahelensis


That was due to be our live snake on the road for the entire week - driving 1,500 miles total. Still, a new species for us and one we really wanted to find. Two happy boys! A few more DOR Dasypeltis and a fruitless rainy search in a known Naja location ended the night for us.

May 1st
Hoping the wind would have dropped inland, we headed back to Assa for a repeat search of some areas from earlier in the week as well as checking out a Telescopus site. We had a daytime wander in the Oued of death to get some habitat photos and see what may be diurnally active here (answer: nothing that day).

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Hyla meridionalis found basking between rocks


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Classic scenery


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Oued of death, by day


Checking north of Assa after sunset we found a few Tarentola boehmei sheltering in a well but nothing more. Heading back down south we set up a camera trap on Fox Hill and left this until the next day. Another search for Echis in the same area gave us a small Macroprotodon brevis and a freshly decapitated sheeps' head, complete with pool of blood. In the middle of flat ground, no trees for hanging the animal on for Halal slaughter.. Weird. Considering what we'd experienced here earlier in the week we thought best to switch locations before encountering anything else strange!

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Macroprotodon brevis


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Macroprotodon brevis


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Macroprotodon brevis


Searching the Djebel Ouarkziz range by night was a cold and blustery affair - again, only Tarentola boehmei in the habitat adjacent to the DOR Telescopus from earlier in the week. As the herping was proving to be difficult we climbed one of the cliffs here and sat and just watched the stars for an hour before heading back to our camp between Assa and Lahna. Here the car was showing 9 degrees.

May 2nd
Back to Sidi Ifni one final time. We had a few hours on the beach this afternoon before a final great dinner and meeting with Kristian, Henrik and Julias for some herping. A nice bunch of guys and it was great to be in the field together, albeit briefly! The wind and cool temperature we had become used to allowed us to collectively come across Pelophylax, Sclerophrys, Bufotes, Tarentola mauritanica & chazaliae and Saurodactylus brosseti. My friend and I called it a night around 1am as we were up at 5 to head back to Agadir and then home. A single jerboa finished the night for us.

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Tarentola chazaliae


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Tarentola chazaliae


Once we got back to London and checked the camera trap footage we found that approximately 90 minutes after we set it up (and baited with a road-kill rabbit) the Ruppell's fox came by for a few seconds! Very exciting to watch this and a nice supplement to a more traditional herping holiday.

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Vulpes rueppellii


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Vulpes rueppellii - check out that tail!


Species list:

Amphibians
Bufotes boulengeri
Sclerophrys mauritanica
Pelophylax saharicus
Hyla meridionalis

Reptiles
Ptyodactylus oudrii
Quedenfeldtia moerens
Saurodactylus brosseti
Tarentola boehmei
Tarentola chazaliae
Tarentola mauritanica
Tropiocolotes algirus
DOR
Agama impalearis
Uromastyx nigriventris
Acanthodactylus aureus
Chalcides boulengeri
Chalcides polylepis

Bitis arietans
DOR
Dasypeltis sahelensis (& DOR)
Echis leucogaster
Hemorrhois algirus DOR
Hemorrhois hippocrepis
Macroprotodon brevis
Myriopholis algeriensis
Psammophis schokari

Ragheris moilensis DOR
Spalerosophis dolichospilus DOR
Telescopus tripolitanus DOR
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Re: Southern Morocco, April/May 2018

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Fri May 18, 2018 7:41 pm

As tough as our trip, as it would seem, but that Macroprotodon is really cool, even while it's just good ol' brevis. Saw any Canis anthus?
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Re: Southern Morocco, April/May 2018

Postby Daniel Kane » Fri May 18, 2018 8:59 pm

Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:Saw any Canis anthus?


Shows how out-of-date my Canid knowledge is! Post-split, considering the species C. aureus no longer occurs in Africa, it would appear we saw 3 golden wolves and 0 golden jackals.

Source for those who are interested: https://www.theguardian.com/science/grrlscientist/2015/jul/30/golden-jackal-a-new-wolf-species-hiding-in-plain-sight
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Re: Southern Morocco, April/May 2018

Postby Thor Hakonsen » Fri May 18, 2018 9:53 pm

Looks like a great trip Daniel, even though the weather is not always on the team as I know from my own experience with Morocco. But that Echis makes me want to go back soon!
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Re: Southern Morocco, April/May 2018

Postby Michal Szkudlarek » Sat May 19, 2018 12:21 pm

No photos of Pelophylax ? :(
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Re: Southern Morocco, April/May 2018

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Sat May 19, 2018 12:54 pm

Michal Szkudlarek wrote:No photos of Pelophylax ? :(

Someone gives us a report with Echis in it, and you ask for water frogs? :o :? :lol:
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Re: Southern Morocco, April/May 2018

Postby Michal Szkudlarek » Sat May 19, 2018 12:55 pm

Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:
Michal Szkudlarek wrote:No photos of Pelophylax ? :(

Someone gives us a report with Echis in it, and you ask for water frogs? :o :? :lol:

I'm a frog boy :P
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Re: Southern Morocco, April/May 2018

Postby Ilian Velikov » Sun May 20, 2018 12:18 pm

Great stuff Daniel! Congratulations and thanks for sharing. Now...show us Elvis ;)
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Re: Southern Morocco, April/May 2018

Postby Daniel Kane » Sun May 20, 2018 7:43 pm

Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:
Michal Szkudlarek wrote:No photos of Pelophylax ? :(

Someone gives us a report with Echis in it, and you ask for water frogs? :o :? :lol:


Haha! Just for you, Michal:
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Pelophylax saharicus


Ilian Velikov wrote:Great stuff Daniel! Congratulations and thanks for sharing. Now...show us Elvis ;)


In time... :D
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Re: Southern Morocco, April/May 2018

Postby Michal Szkudlarek » Sun May 20, 2018 7:56 pm

Thank you Daniel :)
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