2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malaysia)

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krisbell
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2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malaysia)

Post by krisbell »

I have finally got time to sit down and do a write-up of a trip me, my girlfriend and friends and family members did in October. It was a combination of business, pleasure and everything in between as different people were going on the the trip for different reasons and the aim was to keep everyone happy. Needless to say I was the only member of the trip intent on herping so it was with some trepidation of how much compromise would be necessary that we all departed the UK for our first stop - 1 night in Oman.

Oman - a really interesting country that I would love to go back to with more than 18hours to spare. Our taxi driver was a real character and soon warmed to his task of pointing out every mosque, palace, souk, hilltop or otherwise to us on our way to the hotel. We made all the appropriate noises an appreciative tourist should make and he got so enthused by this that he tried to take us to his house for tea and played a game called 'Run down the pedestrians' in the back alleys. Further description of this game is in the link on the photo...

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???????? by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

After checking in and having a few beers it was time for bed, though not before I had found and photographed at least one reptile. After sitting in air-conditioned luxury and sipping cold beer for a few hours the 40-degree windless night time heat was hard to deal with, and within minutes I was dripping with sweat. There were geckos absolutely everywhere but it turns out my camera had taken the transition from air-conditioning to stifling heat even worse than I had, and constantly fogged up within microseconds of me wiping the lens clear. As such I only managed one useable shot...(ID is tentative as this is my first time herping in this area).

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Southern tuberculated gecko (Bunopus tuberculatus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

The next day it was off to our first proper destination, Koh Samui in Thailand, where we were to meet up with my 2 brothers, who both live in the country - having fallen for the charms of the local women/boys/ladyboys. The idea was to spend one day shopping for knock off designer t-shirts (my idea of hell but believe it or not this was one of the prime motivations of one of my fellow travelers on the trip), one day visiting my brothers house on Koh Tao and one day to relax. I have spent a bit of time herping on Koh Tao and Koh Samui is more populated and polluted so I wasn't too bothered about going crazy with herping here. Nevertheless I hired a scooter for the day and my girlfriend and I hit the only patches of decent forest I could find in the interior. Within minutes, and right within the densest patch of forest the road passed through, we had come across a snake crossing the road.

These guys are common both on roads and ground into roads so I am posting an old pic taken on Koh Tao a few years ago.
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Oriental Whipsnake (Ahaetulla prasina) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

Despite this early success the rest of the day was extremely slow going and I was dismayed at the lack of decent habitat even well into the interior of the island. By nightfall we hadnt improved on our total, though did manage to find a few amphibians in a small stream.

Not sure of the ID on these guys Image
Unknown frogs in amplexus by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Asian Painted Frog (Kaloula pulchra) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Asian Common Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

As dark descended we road cruised the best looking patch of forest but despite loads of bats flitting across the road we saw no reptiles. Before packing up for the night we returned to walk the small stretch of stream where we had found the frog and toad and came across one snake (a lifer for me) photographed as it sat on a low-lying shrub on the edge of a footpath.

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Common Mock Viper (Psammodynastes pulverulentus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

The rest of our time on Koh Samui passed quickly and it was off to our next destination, a tiny island approximately 1500km off the coast of Western Australia - Christmas Island. Christmas Island is a pretty remarkable place, famous for its mass migration of red crabs. It has also become a massive 'sorting office' for asylum seekers and we had a quick look at several of the detainee camps that are dotted around the island - separated into families, children and single men (where most of the trouble predictably happens). Some of the accommodation they live in includes demountable cabins previously used for struggling aboriginal settlements on the mainland, but long since deemed uninhabitable due to rot/asbestos and the like. Any Aussie readers will appreciate how shocking these cabins must be to be deemed unsuitable by the government for use as aboriginal housing. The massive influx of asylum seekers has created a crazy local economy where even the most menial jobs attract 6-figure annual salaries and every single room in every guesthouse, hotel and lodging is permanently rented out, at day rates, to government workers who have nowhere else to stay. Christmas Island also has a massive range of birds and most show almsot no fear of humans. At night a bunch of frigates and boobies roosted on the cliff-top fencing just outside our hotel room and didnt budge even when I disturbed them by standing right beside them. Our hotel used to be a thriving 5-star casino resort but a change in government legislation in the 90s put an end to it. The resort rapidly deteriorated but the hotel component was saved from dereliction a few years ago. However, all the gaming rooms remain abandoned, and it was extremely creepy walking through dark rooms filled with rows of pokie machines, roulette and craps tables.

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Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster plotus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Christmas Island by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Christmas Island Thrush (Turdus poliocephalus erythropleurus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Yellow Tropicbird/Golden Bosun Chick (Phaethon lepturus fulvus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

These guys get to monstrous sizes (if you dont believe me CHECK OUT THIS BRUTE: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/images/coconut-crab-2.jpg )
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Robber Crab (Birgus latro) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Forgotten Casino by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

After one night in Christmas Island we set off the next morning for our main destination of Sydney, to spend time with my sister and her family. I lived in Sydney for 8 months while working as a research assistant at the university of Sydney so it was nice to go back and visit a few old patches as well as try out a couple of new areas. Unfortunately one favourite patch in Sydney where I had seen massive amounts of wildlife had been destroyed to make way for some treatment plant of some sort, which was really sad for me as I had some great memories of the place - cant beat progress though eh! My first mini expedition was to the Blue Mountains. I saw a stack of critters including a blotched bluetongue, Cunninghams skinks, brushtail possum, water dragons and a southern leaftail gecko, though didnt manage my main target of Highlands Copperhead. As I have seen many of each of these species previously, I only took photos of a few...

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Mountain Heath Dragon (Rankinia diemensis) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

Video link to footage of above lizard: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristianbell/10594153626/

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Yellow-Bellied Water Skink (Eulamprus heatwolei) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Valley of the Waters by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Diamond Python (Morelia spilota) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

Alot of time in Sydney was spent with my sister and her kids, but as I had to share a hotel room with my brother (who is a big snorer) I (a very light sleeper) had plenty of time to take shots of Coogee Bay, where we were staying. Click on the picture below for a slightly funnier story about how the photograph came about.

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Coogee Dawn by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

My final excursion while in Sydney was to Newcastle and the areas to the north. I was keen to take a half decent photograph of a red-bellied black snake as this was the first Aussie snake I ever saw (about 12 years ago) and despite seeing quite a few since I have never got any better pictures than a tail disappearing into undergrowth or a blurred headshot. Jordan Mulder, Stephen Mahoney and Daniel Stace were my very able guides for the day and we very quickly found about a dozen red-bellies and a dozen marsh snakes.

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Red-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Red-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

After a successful afternoon we headed north of Newcastle to do a spot of nightcruising. It was extremely windy and stormy and at one point we needed to pull a freshly fallen tree off the road in order to exit the park but before we got hit by torrential rain and called it a night we managed to find one snake - a new species for me - and one very cool marsupial.

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Rough-scaled Snake (Tropidechis carinatus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Feathertail Glider (Acrobates pygmaeus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

Our next destination was a 1 night stop in Bali. Some of the guys we were travelling with used to visit Bali every year for many years but hadnt been for a decade or so. They were keen to re-visit to see if the island was still as good as they remembered it - unfortunately it wasnt. The place was a bit of a mess, with rubbish everywhere, a chaotic airport and congested roads. After being on the go non-stop for over a week I decided there was no point trying to hire a scooter for an afternoon so I gave myself the night off from herping.

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Bali by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

One other reason for taking the night off was that I was keen to be as rested as possible for our last destination, and the one I was by far looking forward to the most - the island of Langkawi in Malaysia. We stayed at an amazing hotel for 3 nights, though I learned fairly quickly that the hotel was only a few years old and had been delicately put on top of what used to be some lovely rainforest and mangrove habitat. This seemed to be a common story across much of Langkawi, with new developments and forest clearing occurring everywhere. Despite this, the island still has plenty of decent tracts of forest left, and compared to Bali seemed like paradise, with monkeys, birds and water monitors absolutely everywhere we turned to look. My girlfriend (now my fiance by this point in the trip!) and I quickly sorted a hire car and were soon speeding around the island, taking in the sights. The first rains of the season came with a whimper on our first night there, but by the second night we were absolutely deluged. Despite torrential rain (and I have never had much success herping in rain other than occasional Nerodia-filled nights in Florida) we saw a decent number of snakes, including 7 Pope's pit vipers, a green cat snake and Malayan Krait. During the day we took a boat tour in the mangroves and our eagle-eyed guide spotted 3 mangrove pit vipers. My girlfriend sorry fiance, also spotted a cerburus sp. which i hooked out the water and placed on the boat. Having handled a few filesnakes in Australia I was expecting a loose sack of a snake with pretty limited ability to move about on land. Unfortunately I was wrong, and within a split second the snake jumped several times and bounded out the boat, disappearing into the murky water.

These guys were fairly shyImage
Dusky Leaf Monkey (Trachypithecus obscurus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

This species was newly described in about 2008 Image
Bent-toed Gecko (Cyrtodactylus macrotuberculatus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Popes Pit Viper (Trimeresurus popeorum) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

These guys were everywhere across the island and on several occasions we saw what I presume was a parent monkey sat at the side of the road beside a roadkill juvenile monkey Image
Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) mother and baby by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

I was blown away by how attractive these snakes were. For some reason photos of these guys dont do the iridescence and colour of them justice Image
Mangrove Pit Viper (Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

Despite possibly being the most venomous snake in Asia this guy was just about the most innocuous snake i've encountered.
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Juvenile Malayan Krait (Bungarus candidus) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

....unlike this guy
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Green Cat Snake (Boiga cyanea) by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

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Black Sand Beach Jetty by Kristian Bell, on Flickr

And that just about wraps up an action-packed 2 weeks and my last herping until sometime in 2014, when I am planning a herping honeymoon in Costa Rica (though I have yet to tell this to my long-suffering partner).

Many thanks to Tom Charlton, Tom Williams, David Nixon, Rupert Lewis, Jordan Mulder, Stephen Mahoney, Daniel Stace and anyone else I may have forgotten that took me out or gave me invaluable advice about where to look for certain critters. The trip was a great success, in no small part due to your willingness to share your knowledge. I owe you all.
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Ribbit
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by Ribbit »

Wow, what a phenomenal series of photos! Very entertaining writeup, too. Thanks for putting it together.

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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by Ecto Hunter »

Wonderful photos. The mangrove pitviper in the rain is my favorite.
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Kevin Messenger
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by Kevin Messenger »

jesus.... incredible photos!! love the mangrove viper with the rain
Zach_Lim
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by Zach_Lim »

Holy moly those pictures!

The viper in the rain....just wow.
Aaron Mills
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by Aaron Mills »

That Mangrove shot is unreal! Great photos all around!

What camera set up are you using for these shots?
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justinm
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by justinm »

Your photos made me stalk your profile on Flickr, and I'm glad I did. Wow just wow. You're shots are incredible to say the least. I'm glad you posted this, the writeup was fun too.
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krisbell
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by krisbell »

Thanks alot for the comments guys, much appreciated.
Aaron Mills wrote:What camera set up are you using for these shots?
Aaron - I am using a Canon 5D mark III with a busted (but still sharp) 100mm macro and one off camera flash in a soft box for all my macro stuff. The wide angle shots are taken with 16-35mm L and the telephoto stuff a 100-400mm L.
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Ruxs
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by Ruxs »

Absolutely glorious set of photos with great narration. This is pure inspiration right here.
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by chrisr »

Holy ^@#$!)^#@(!!!!
ChadHarrison
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by ChadHarrison »

Oh my God, your photos are incredible. What sort of set up do you use?
josh_r
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by josh_r »

Nevermind the animals.... the high quality of your photography has left me speechless! WOW!!! I too would like to hear a bit about your gear and technique!
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by Nshepard »

Whoa. Great photography!
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umop apisdn
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by umop apisdn »

Sheesh, I'm just going to reiterate what you already know. Killer shots. Well done.
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by chrish »

Spectacular photography, top to bottom. That leaf monkey shot is great but the lighting on the Duttaphrynus shot is awe inspiring.

Any photos of the Christmas Island Frigates? You could post all your bird images apologetically on the FHF bird forum. :crazyeyes:

One of my birding goals from 25+ years ago was to see all the world's species of Frigatebirds. Christmas Island is a tough one to get, although not nearly as tough as the Ascension Island Frigatebird. :(
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by Fieldnotes »

wow unbelievable photography.. you have an amazing talent :shock:
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by Blacktail31 »

STUNNING PHOTOGRAPHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Holy batshit, you really made the best of your time (TWO WEEKS for half of Asia?!!) and every image subject there. Very inspiring indeed, and I've copied quite a few into my PHOTOS TO LEARN FROM folder. Being a borderline diabetic, I'm not a fan of HDR photography at all, but in the context of the entire post those shots had their place.

Thank you very much!
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by alessio »

Really cool photos, thanks for sharing!

I was wondering if the Cyrtodactylus macrotuberculatus was already in the water when you actually found it, or did it end up there while shooting?
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Re: 2-WEEK TOUR OF ASIA-Oct'13 (Oman,Thailand,Indo,Aus+Malay

Post by krisbell »

Many thanks again all for your comments - its always gratefully received!
alessio wrote:Really cool photos, thanks for sharing!

I was wondering if the Cyrtodactylus macrotuberculatus was already in the water when you actually found it, or did it end up there while shooting?
If you click on the link underneath the photo it will take you to a description of how the photo came about. Short answer is no, it was on an adjacent rock and jumped off as I approached it. It then remained motionless in the water and allowed me to get as close as I wanted as if it thought it was safe. Looked a lot like a baby gator!

Hans Breuer (twoton) wrote: I'm not a fan of HDR photography at all, but in the context of the entire post those shots had their place
Thanks Hans, I'm not a fan of overdone HDR but if you are able to take a pic using it (i.e. subject stays completely still and you have a tripod) I think its a no-brainer. Unfortunately the only time I had enough light to do HDR on the animals was for the water skink.
chrish wrote: Any photos of the Christmas Island Frigates?
Yeah I got one or two pics but havent got round to putting them up yet. They were drinking out of the hotel swimming pool which was an awesome sight. If i had more time I could have got some crazy shots of them skimming water. I guess they preferred chlorinated water to salt water.

Chad + Josh - Canon 5D, 100mm macro and 1 off-camera flash for the most part, 16-35mm L II for wide angle and 100-400L for telephoto. Nothing groundbreaking unfortunately about my technique. On macro shots I make sure I get close to eye level and fire off shots while moving the flash around until I get something that looks good (normally above, to one side and in front of the subject). Same sort of thing for wide angle, though I also try getting in a natural lightsource and some vaguely interesting scenery. For all animal shots I try to get something within the first few minutes of seeing the animal as I find they calm down quickly and start trying to go on their way which is a pain if your hands are full holding a camera and a flash, and doesnt make for great photos anyway.
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