Herps of Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve, Malawi

[Bizzle]

Some pics of herps found around Chipembere Camp in the Mwabvi Wildlife Reserve in Malawi. Quite a variety of gecko's (6spp), skinks (5spp) and other saurians. Few snakes. Did not manage to photograph everything but saw boomslang, Eastern stripe bellied sandsnake, python and M'fezi. Included some other interesting shots also. Enjoy.

Rock monitor


Orphaned Common Duiker


Agama spp.


Huge Ant Lion


Sand Frog spp.


Spotted Thick-toed Gecko


Foam Nest Frog


Fiery-necked Nightjar roosting


Variable Skink


Wahlberg's (?) Snake-eyed Skink


Turner's Gecko


Puff Adder, roadkill by sugarcane truck


Cape Dwarf Day Gecko


Banded Rubber Frog, enjoy hanging out in cysterns


Egyptian Mongoose, poisoned at one of the remaining pools in the Thangadzi River


Emerald-spotted Wood Dove in a poacher's bird net in the Thangadzi River Gorge


Bats are often caught in the nets overhanging waterholes and pools


A Wildlife Scout removing the live bats from the nets, this took some convincing!


Unidentified bat spp. in a birdnet


Bat freed from entrapment


Buffalo cow, shot after having been injured by a gin trap


Gin traps are indiscriminant and horrible things. Take a look at this if you tend to disagree!


Sundevall's writhing skink, found in thick leaf litter in the Mwabvi River Gorge


Serval kitten, abandoned by mother during a wildfire


Brown house snake, beautiful pattern!

[Bizzle]

Hmm, same problem with the pics. Thought my album was open to the public

[nvlooi]

Dont know wht you doing wrong but whent trough your album and some amazing pics!


H

[Mitton]

Maybe try upload them to the SAReptiles Gallery?

Edit: You are posting the link to the page and not the photo, you have to right click the photo and paste that link.
Fixed it for you.

[Wolf777]

Some nice finds keep, them coming! Man those gin traps are horrible, that looks like a lot of suffering, glad you put her out of her misery.

[Fooble]

That gecko " Spotted Thick Toed gecko" is not Pachydactylus maculatus.
Do you have any other photos of it?

[Bizzle]

Sure Fooble, it was my best guess. Dont have the relevant literature for Malawi so I based it on Branch's most recent publication on Southern Africa. They come in range of colours though, some are fairly dark. Found them under rocks a lot (brick ovens) and sometimes in clusters of roots when clearing firebreaks/fencelines.

The only other one I have:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1124535076 ... 5578096818

Also, is this your regular house gecko (Moreau's tropical)?
https://picasaweb.google.com/1124535076 ... 7586180210

Thanks for you input. Been an enthousiast for years, but still very much on a steep learning curve. Appreciate your help. Also, the snake-eyed skink, is it perhaps a different species than Wahlberg's? A remarkably red throat and some light dots along the side.

[Fooble]

Sure Fooble, it was my best guess. Dont have the relevant literature for Malawi so I based it on Branch's most recent publication on Southern Africa. They come in range of colours though, some are fairly dark. Found them under rocks a lot (brick ovens) and sometimes in clusters of roots when clearing firebreaks/fencelines.

The only other one I have:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1124535076 ... 5578096818

Also, is this your regular house gecko (Moreau's tropical)?
https://picasaweb.google.com/1124535076 ... 7586180210

Thanks for you input. Been an enthousiast for years, but still very much on a steep learning curve. Appreciate your help. Also, the snake-eyed skink, is it perhaps a different species than Wahlberg's? A remarkably red throat and some light dots along the side.

Bizzle not a problem, i get excited when i see post's like this i just wish more of the forum posts would be as exciting as this!
That "spotted gecko" i would say is Pachydactylus punctatus ( sorry no idea of the English name)

And Yes that's a Good Ol Hemidactylus.

Thanks again for posting!

[Bizzle]

Ok, thanks a lot. Should invest on some local literature I suppose. Ill post some more Zambian pics soon when the ecologist gets back, he has seen way more than I have. Some very interesting spp.

[Fooble]

Bizzle have a look here, BEST source of Pachydactylus species to ID from.

http://www.pachydactylus.com/pages/engl ... ctylus.php

[Bizzle]

Sweet thanks. In retrospect, I dnt think I had Id's it as maculatus, I think I remembered wrong. Nice for future reference though.