Kalispera!
This summer, Bobby and I planned on spending short, relaxing holidays somewhere with the possibility of seeing some occasional reptiles and amphibians. As it conveniently turned out to be a very cheap option, we finally decided on Samos. Our expectations for herping results were low - Bobby has visited the island twice before, and warned me how hard herping could be there. Out of the staggering number of 28 species of reptiles and amphibians, most are rare and not readily encountered. The current heat wave did not brighten the perspective.
Against all odds, the first nights (and partially also days) were splendid in terms of herping, and finding Eryx jaculus, Montivipera xanthina in the first night, followed by another individual of viper and Chamaeleo chamaeleon in the second night, got us on the verge of mania. What we found in the remaining nights however can be easily abbreviated to - nothing. At least in terms of reptiles - we still encountered interesting insects in high numbers as well as beautiful birds and shy mammals on our nocturnal strolls. And during daytime we enjoyed ourselves while making friends with a loony Monk Seal and feeling like Brooke Shields in the Blue Lagoon (I guess I can only speak for myself here).
Below you find some pictures; the complete selection can as always be found on:
https://picasaweb.google.com/tiemann.laura/Samos2015#
As Bobby is already on his way to stalking Chameleons in Africa, I also take the liberty to promote his trip report:
http://www.herpsafari.nl/tripreports-eu/2015-7-samos/
Enjoy and thanks for looking!