Tete, Northern Mozambique (Part III)

Accounts and photos of non-captive reptiles in their natural habitat outside of South Africa. Try to record with your account details such as time of day/night, temperature, weather conditions, lunar cycle, sex, rough age of reptile, and so on.

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Tete, Northern Mozambique (Part III)

Postby Sico » Thu Nov 21, 2013 2:20 pm

I've just got back from another month in Tete. The temperatures have been phenomenal, and the highest I have ever experienced (watching the weather channel the other evening I noticed that Tete currently has the highest temperatures on the continent)
There hasn't been much rain, and with the heat most wildlife is sheltering during the day. There was a small P. natalensis that was killed by an excavator digging out rocks, but I wasn't able to retrieve any of it or get any photographs. Another small Rhamphiophis oxyrhynchus, several more B. arietans, and two N. mossambica. One large one, 1.6m, was killed by a machine, and the second smaller one I managed to rescue on a small branch, and relocate into the bush, with much spitting in my direction. As you can see, it covered the camera with it.
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Megatyphlops schlegerii I think
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Lunar Moths, Argema mimosae, have also been quite common
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We also took a weekend off and went up to Cahora Bassa, where we stayed on a houseboat and did some tigerfishing. They were biting at a decent pace and we caught quite a few around the 3kg mark, as well as a couple of 10kg Vundu...
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I'll be heading back in on the 15th Dec, for a month. by then the rains will have been in full swing for a week or two, so there should be a LOT more to see. Since the site will be pretty much shut down from the 20th I am planning on doing some road cruising after dark, after rainy afternoons. I will also be going back up to the lake in late January, and hopefully there will be a lot more out and about then as well.
Mark
Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, experience usually comes from bad judgment.
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Re: Tete, Northern Mozambique (Part III)

Postby Sico » Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:49 am

As I mentioned, the day time temperatures in Tete have been exceedingly high recently. It is not unusual for the mercury to nudge the 50 C mark by mid day.
I was in town for some business-related stuff and we decided to have lunch at one of the open air restaurants. This place has electric fans placed on the patio, with fine mist nozzles set into the front of them, to blow mist over the diners to cool them off.
There were a couple of trees planted in the patio as well, and after the fans had been on for about 10 minutes, I happened to notice one of the trees in the direct path of a fan was literally covered in Lygodactylus, only on the side the fan was blowing over. I counted 79 geckos of various sizes, in the space of maybe 4 square feet, and checking the other trees I found the same, but only on the trees the fans were covering.
The images are not that great, as I only had my phone with me at the time to snap off some pics.
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Mark
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Re: Tete, Northern Mozambique (Part III)

Postby Westley Price » Fri Nov 22, 2013 3:13 pm

Thanx for the post, Sico. Amazing, the amount of Lygodactylus on that one tree! I am sure the Vine Snakes thrive!

Judging by the nose on that Blind Snake, I would guess Rhinotyphlops sp.

For the Lygo, I would venture a guess to Lygodactylus angularis.
"I am dying by inches from not having anybody to talk to about insects." - Charles Darwin
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Re: Tete, Northern Mozambique (Part III)

Postby Sico » Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:33 am

One of the guys confiscated a Pangolin off some locals that were trying to sell it to our truck drivers as food yesterday. It seemed otherwise in good condition so I went out on site this morning and released it in a some suitably remote bush where we have finished working.
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Mark
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Re: Tete, Northern Mozambique (Part III)

Postby levi_20 » Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:39 pm

Amazing , Pangolins are epic! Thanks for these posts, its really great to see so many different animals from another part of the continent.
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Re: Tete, Northern Mozambique (Part III)

Postby Warren Klein » Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:25 am

Hi Mark,

The tree covered in geckos chilling out is quite a unique site. Pangolins are always a lucky find and its great that you guys were able to save this one.
An inaccurate naturalist is a pest and a danger, forever perpetuating illogical deductions and landing later naturalists in trouble. Damm and blast them all to hell in the most painful way. C.J.P. Ionides
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