herpetological trip to morocco

Our route in South Morocco. However, most finds were done in places between those sites.

 

 

Morocco, a true herpetological paradise just in our home's backyard... As I think for most spanish herpers, as soon as I started my interest for reptiles and amphibians I hear about the incredible species that can be found our southern neighbour and, as you can imagine, it turns into a close future target to visit this place. Only to mention some of Morocco's herping treasures: horned vipers, puff adders, cobra, monitor lizards, spiny tailed lizards, lots of cool geckos and skinks... A herpetofauna so different and exotic for europeans, but at the same time with some similarities. Being honest, I always thought that Morocco would be my first herpetological trip, but after an unsuccessful attempt to go there in 2017 (because my mates finally could't go) and an invitation to an unforgettable trip to Costa Rica in 2018, it had to wait until 2019 for my first nature experience in Africa.

 

For this adventure I was lucky to count with other three herping monsters as enthusiastic and crazy as I am, capable of non stop searching of nature wonders, even forgetting to eat or sleep... The first, my past Costa Rica mate, Max Benito, with whom for whatever reason we always succeed in our herping trips together. Second on board, my friend Óscar "Komodo" Bravo, a monitor expert, which was the voice of tranquility during the trip (as long as there were no venomous snakes on scene). The third, a beast from the north, Pablo Varona, as me a whole naturalist, capable of enjoying equally birds, herps and insects. With this dream team, I had no doubt that this trip was going to be epic.

 

We planned the trip for the second half of September, early autumn in Morocco, as we saw most successful trip reports for people going on this date and all four had this days free to go. As Max and I learned something from our past Costa Rica trip, we carefully planned this trip avoiding the full moon for most of the places where we had to do night searching. The route included some of the most famous herping areas of southwest Morocco, the Atlantic coast, the area where all the most impressive herps are concentrated and "easy" to see. Among all species, we selected the "big five" reptiles of Morocco, our most desired ones: puff adder, moorish viper, egyptian cobra, white-bellied carpet viper and desert monitor. I know there are lots of other cool herps on Morocco, but those five have the combination of being difficult to encounter (I heard of people not seeing a cobra until their tenth trip there), iconic and impressive animals. 

 

Our plan was to do mainly cistern checking during the hot day, as it was the easiest way to find some of the most impressive herps, as the cobras, moorish vipers, etc. During the nights we planned to do some roadcruising and night searchings, depending on what area we where and the potential species there. We didn't do much active "by foot" herping during the day, as herps there have low densities and we thought September was not a time for expect a high reptile activity. 

 

Morocco team with a mograbin diadem snake (spoiler!). From left to right: Luis Albero, Max Benito, Óscar "Komodo" Bravo, and Pablo Varona

 

 

The flights are not so expensive from Spain to Morocco. We landed on Marrakech on late afternoon September 19, took our rental car with not so much problem (a small van) and get into the chaotic moroccan traffic to spend our first night on a non-so-luxury hotel in Marrakech. A thing for this first night is that as we expected so much heat here (this is Africa!) we set the air conditioning on full all the night long, so two days after I ended with a cold in the desert, fine... 

 

We got up early on the following day and went straight south to Agadir, so full of desire to start herping. But first we had to buy food for eating on the field (the times we remembered that) and some material like a trash can to take out the snakes to the cisterns, a shovel (which we do not use once on the full trip), and a tiny can for scorpions and little herps. Already fully equipped for the herp war, we leave Agadir city and head towards the Souss Valley. On all the way we started to hear that cool moroccan music on the radio (you can hear this for a better atmosphere during the report, the most heard song of the trip). Our main target on that afternoon on the Agadir region, dominated by argan trees, was to find a moorish viper (Daboia mauritanica), in an area some friends found one the year before, as well as some mediterranean-like herps which are hard to find souther. 

 

We started the cistern-checking and the first snakes took place, some horseshoe whip snakes (Hemorrhois hippocrepis), a familiar species for us, a false smooth snake (Macroprotodon brevis brevis), and also schokari sand racer (Psammophis schokari), a cool slender psammophid which ended being the most frequent snake during the trip, all uniform morph so we only photographed decently the first one. Sadly we also found lots of dead herps, like some big algerian skinks (Eumeces algeriensis), and the worst of all, a big moorish viper, dead surely long time ago. We also found some coastal skinks (Chalcides mionecton) under stones. After dusk, we found a cistern plenty of amphibians, with southern treefrogs (Hyla meridionalis), of antiatlas morph, and the cool brongersma toad (Barbarophryne brongersmai). We also saw some cool scorpions of different species.

 

Schokari sand racer (Psammophis schokari)

 

 

Our second night on Morocco was spended on the car, in a beach just north of Tiznit. That previous night we found nothing roadcruising but another sand racer in a random stop, and our only tortoise of the trip (Testudo graecca). We didn't sleep so well that night, so we get up very early. Our plan for that morning was to visit the famous Souss-Massa National Park for some birding. As Max and Óscar are not great bird fans, they stayed resting on the car while Pablo and me went to the park. There we met a nice guard that helped us with our main target, the black-crowned tchagra (Tchagra senegalus). We found some more species but had no luck with our other target, the bald ibis. As we returned to the car, Max and Óscar had been lifting some stones and found some spotted fringe-fingered lizards (Acanthodactylus margaritae). 

 

Then we headed south through Tiznit to Sidi Ifni, checking cisterns and finding some more common species along the way, with the only novelty being a montpellier snake (Malpolon monspessulanus). In Sidi Ifni we booked a nice and cheap hotel near the beach (less than 10 euros per night). That night we had planned to roadcruise the coastal roads, mainly in search of the puff adder. First of all, I have to say that roadcruising seems to be hard in Morocco, and some friends had told us stories of night after night ending with zero herps. Believe it or not, after like half an hour of roadcruissing, we saw a massive and unmistakable silhouette on the road: the mighty puff adder (Bitis arietans) was in front of us. After the logical moment of collective craziness that follows all "big finds", we secure the big female viper (around 130cm, a very big size for Morocco) and spent a great moment taking pictures. That gentle giant didn't make justice to their reputation of the most dangerous and deadly snake of Africa, and remained very calm. It not even tried to strike or adopt any defensive posture, probably the mildly cold temperatures helped to that. After leaving our first "big five" herp, on our way back to Sidi Ifni we roadcruised another puff adder, this time a newborn from the present year, but with a more contrasted pattern.

 

Puff adder (Bitis arietans)

 

Portrait of the big puff adder (Bitis arietans)

 

On the following day we checked cisterns around Sidi Ifni, in a landscape dominated by prickly pear cactus. We started finding some new species like the skink Chalcides polylepis and more sand racers and horseshoe whip snakes. On one of the last cisterns the big prize appeared, a very gorgeous algerian skink (Eumeces algeriensis), a species we already doubted we were going to see after failing it on Agadir. The bad note of the day was finding a dead egg eating snake (Dasypeltis sahelensis) near some works on the road. Probably the workers killed the snake during its period of resting, as this is mostly a spring species. That night we went roadcruising again and found a high puff adder activity, all juveniles, but we encountered three living and other three roadkilled specimens. Probably females had given birth not so long ago. We also encounter our first helmeted gecko (Tarentola chazaliae), and a freshly roadkilled african house snake (Boaedon fuliginosus). With that find we saw the three tropical relictic snakes of Morocco in one day, sadly only one of them alive. Just before arriving back to Sidi Ifni, we found the only mauritanian toad (Sclerophrys mauritanica) of the trip. I was on the top of my cold, feeling really bad so I didn't pay it so much attention...

 

Algerian skink (Eumeces algeriensis)

 

 

We have planned to spend three nights on Sidi Ifni, but due to the good results decided to move south yet to our next destination: Guelmin region. As always, we looked into some cisterns on our way with only the typical common colubrids. As we arrived to Guelmin we found a bit hard to find a good and cheap hotel, and finally we had to stay in one a bit luxurious for our standard... it almost seemed european. That day we went to Plage Blanche road finding cisterns full of water and not so much herps. The best was probably the sunset on that wild beach, where we found some sand skink tracks and our first elegant gecko (Stenodactylus mauritanicus).

 

On the way back to Guelmin, at night, a non-shy elephant shrew (Elephantulus rozeti) appears on the road, probably the best mammal find of the trip. As we hadn't found nothing interesting that day we get a little crazy and started roadcruising south of Guelmin towards Fask/El Borj. On our way we saw a snake on the road, it seemed alive, and seemed a viper... but only one of that was true. The worst moment of the trip: a very freshly killed moorish viper (Daboia mauritanica). It's very frustrating to think that if we had arrived only some minutes earlier, we probably had seen it alive... damn moroccan drivers! Later on that night we finally found a living snake on the road, a cute newborn saharan horned viper (Cerastes cerastes). We also found an adult roadkilled on our way back to Guelmin, very late on the night, and some more elegant geckos. 

 

Elegant gecko (Stenodactylus mauritanicus). Amazing eyes!

 

 

All this day was dedicated to "cisterning" on Guelmin region in hope for some cool snakes (Naja, Daboia...). We took a promising dirt road full of old and dry cisterns. Our first rescue was a new species for us, a green toad (Bufotes boulengeri), along with a big fat rat (Psammomys obesus), which take us a big effort to catch and release. Next cistern had one of the coolest reptiles, the moroccan spinytailed lizard (Uromastyx nigriventris), an individual in poor state. We continue the road rescuing some sand racers, as always, and in another cistern we surprisingly found a common chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon). The first chamaeleon for Pablo, but we didn't stay for long with him because the area was full of big ticks. Very clever arachnids, because I even found one behind my ear...

 

We arrived to a cistern close to some houses and Max found there a nice mograbin diadem snake (Spalerosophis dolichospilus). Then, a guy from one of the houses came to us. We didn't understand a word from each other, but we show him the snake, the cistern, our rope scale, and he should have understood us, because with gestures told us to follow him. With him, we reached other cisterns that otherwise we've never encountered, and found a juvenile montpellier snake (M. monspessulanus saharatlanticus) and another, bigger diadem snake. After the rescues, our friend even tried to invite us to eat on his house, we kindly reject his proposal because we have to continue herping. One thing we saw in all our Morocco trip is that rural people was always so nice and friendly, and I think this is a great richness of this country. In Spain people is always suspicious if they seen you herping on their land. 

 

On the afternoon we rescued the most strange snake of the trip, a worm snake (Myriopholis algeriensis). We were hurry to check some more cisterns and don't take good photos of it, is something I now regret! On our way back, we stopped for a "stickophis" (a snake-looking stick) and as we always went down the car as if it was the war when an herp appeared, Oscar's phone subtly got out of the car, but he didn't realised that until we were on the hotel. In addition, when we were looking for the phone on the parking lot, some local kids went to said us some things, surely non-cool ones judging by their expression... So Max responded them with some of his best spanish insults. After that they left. 

 

Mograbin diadem snake (Spalerosophis dolichospilus)

 

 

This day we headed south deep into the desert, on the Anti Atlas region, hoping to find some more saharan herps as horned vipers, spinytailed lizards, monitor lizard or carpet viper, among other. We get up as early as our previous phone-looking night allowed us. Shortly after taking the detour to El Borj, we catch an adult Trapelus boehmei on the middle of the road. This astute lizard played it for us and as soon as we posed it for photos he runned quickly inside a hole. So, we ended without good pictures of this species... On El Borj we were looking for Cerastes in a promising place. After a while two men approached. One of them spoke english and told us his friend could help us to find the snake if we paid him some money. We didn't exactly agree to that but anyway that guy went with us. After some search we only found some tracks, and by us, not by his help. In spite of that he wanted us to pay him likewise, so we finally decided to leave the place without our target. He didn't seemed so happy...

 

On our way from El Borj to Assa we found some cool spiny tailed lizards, both sunbathing over stones and on cisterns. The temperatures were growing and our car almost reached 53ºC, but there were those thought lizards. The rescued ones were firstly black as we took them outside the cisterns, but after some time down the sun they got spectacular yellow and orange colorations. We also rescued an ocellated skink (Chalcides ocellatus) after arriving to Assa and get some drink after preparing for the night. There was no luck with the elusive desert monitor...  

 

Moroccan spiny tailed lizard (Uromastyx nigriventris)

 

We left Assa and on our way rescued some more lizards from cisterns, but with no snakes yet. On sunset we stopped on a random place in the middle of nowhere to eat some food before the night search. I ended the meal before my mates, so I decided to take a look on the surroundings for the case some interesting animals were moving there. I started finding a very high gecko activity, with tens of draa geckoes (Tarentola boehmei) and elegant geckoes (Stenodactylus mauritanicus) moving around, easily detected through their eyeshine. Then, I found a different gecko, a dune gecko (Stenodactylus petrii). It was surprising to find this species, as they are mostly associated with sand dunes, and that was a stone desert. After all this gecko encounters, I saw a different eyeshine in the base of an acacia tree... snake! I approach quickly hoping for a cat eyed snake or a carpet viper, but it ended being a horned viper (Cerastes cerastes), our first adult one. It was a bit aggressive and show us their interesting scale rubbing behaviour.

 

After ended with that finds, we move towards a spot I had marked with good habitat for my favourite moroccan viper, the elusive white-bellied carpet viper (Echis pyramidum leucogaster). We divided us in two groups and started the viper catch. After about half an hour and only some spiders, Pablo and I got a phone call from Max: they have found the target species! It was Óscar who spotted the little viper crawling through an open area, thanks to its shiny big eyes. As we saw it was a high reptile activity, we secure the viper and decided to continue the search, this time I went with Max. After about twenty minutes, we had a call again: Pablo had found a bigger carpet viper. We didn't believe how lucky we were, this is supposedly one of the most difficult snakes to encounter in Morocco. But that was not all, in our way to the spot where Pablo and Óscar where, Max catched another subadult carpet viper ambushed behind a bush. So, we ended the night with one viper each one, that is a team! We took some very pleasant moment taking pictures of this amazing snakes, which remained very calm with just a little scale rubbing. Two of five!

 

When we ended it was very late on the night. Our first plan was to stay on Assa for two days, sleeping on the car. However, as we were so lucky we decided not to risk camping on the desert and go to our next destination: Tan-Tan Plage, about 5 hours driving from Assa. There we had a recommended hotel which surely will have opened at the time we arrived... That drive was probably the most dangerous moment of the whole trip, as we were so tired it was a big effort to keep the eyes opened. We found a diadem snake on the road at about 4 A.M. with a strange looking pattern, which serve for wake up the driver Pablo for some seconds. Finally, after crossing the "death road", full of mad truck drivers, and dodge a camel in the middle of the road, we arrived at our hotel at about 9 A.M.

 

White-bellied carpet viper (Echis pyramidum leucogaster), the biggest one

 

 

After that crazy drive from Assa, we arrived to the Canarias Sahara Hotel on Tan-Tan Plage at about 9:30 A.M. Probably the best place we stayed, with a nice spanish owner, Manolo. After some sleeping and having some pizzas on the hotel we headed towards Khenifiss National Park. On our way we stopped on some cisterns and in one of them we found a new snake species, the crowned leafnose snake (Lytorhynchus diadema). It was on shed, but indeed a very curious snake with that spade-shaped scale on its head. 

 

We arrived at the national park on sunset. This is a sandy dune area, where we hopped to find the smallest viper of Morocco, the sahara sand viper (Cerastes vipera), an ambush predator which digs itself on the sand near bushes. After eating a bit, yet at night, we started herping. We hadn't been on the field for even five minutes when I saw a suspicious eye shine which turns into a slender figure as I approached. A gorgeous diadem snake (Spalerosophis diadema), a species much more rarer on Morocco than is genus counterpart.  

 

Then we headed to the sandy dunes and started searching for the typical tracks of the sahara sand viper. On our way we saw some helmeted geckos, and a pair of elegants too. It took us a bit of time until we found the first tracks, but it was no viper following them. We spent a couple hours searching. Finally, I decided to take a look in an area much closer to the lagoon, and after following a track, I discover the little viper in ambush position behind a tiny bush. To photograph this snake was a hard work, because humidity was high on that hours of the night and all the sand sticked to the snake body like on a living croquette. After triying and triying, cleaning the snake a couple times, we considered impossible to take good photos. Even our cam lenses were getting blurred by that humidity. On our way back, we found another bigger sand viper, but with the same photographic problems than the previous one. 

 

In spite of the bad photography, we really enjoyed that little vipers, with their sidewinding movement and their ability to dig themselves into the sand. Next time we'll have to go during the day! Finally, we arrived back to the hotel at 7.30 A.M., without even having dinner... 

 

Diadem snake (Spalerosophis diadema)

 

 

With most of our targets already done and still some days on Morocco left, we decided to focus on my most desired species and I think one of the most iconic snakes of Morocco, if not the most: the egyptian cobra (Naja haje). This species is elusive and now is scarce in Morocco due to overcollection for snake shows on the streets and for the pet trade. The greatest chance of finding one is to non-stop looking tons of cisterns and with some luck you will find one poor individual stuck inside one of them. This method has also the advantage that if you encounter one you are going to save its life, and every individual is important for this endangered snake.

 

Day 27th we got up on midday as usual, and spent the day checking cisterns around Tan-Tan. We didn't found so much that day, with the only highlight being some algerian fan-fingered geckos (Ptyodactylus oudrii) at the night on a oued south of Tan-Tan. The next day we got up earlier and started a big "cistern tour" between Tan-Tan and Guelmin. Our first find was a big mograbin diadem snake stuck on a little water facility, the fourth one of the trip. On a region of rocky hills we found some trapped agamas and common colubrids. We have planned to search this area's cisterns for two days, but as we didn't find so much we move to the area where we wanted to go the following day. As soon as Max and I went to the second cistern we checked, right next to a tiny village, there it was: a subadult cobra. Pablo and Óscar thought we have had an some kind of accident when they saw us crawling and celebrating on the floor!

 

With the company of a friendly local, Max went down and secure the cobra inside my backpack to remove it from the trap. Then we went a little further from the village and started the photosession. It was a little thin after its period inside the cistern, but promptly adopted the typical defensive posture, extending its hood and following our movements. What an amazing snake! Probably my best experience as a fieldherper. Cobras have fascinated me since my beginning on the herpetology world and at last I was in front of one. After some time with the snake, we release it on a rat hole, and I expect it found a prey soon! With the target accomplished, we headed back to the Canarias Sahara hotel where Manolo has prepared us a nice roasted fish for complete a fantastic day.

 

Egyptian cobra (Naja haje)

 

 

After the success with the cobra, there were still two of the "big five" moroccan herps to find: the moorish viper and the desert monitor. We all agreed to go after the monitor, as the moorish viper, even impressive, is indeed a viper, of which we have already seen many. O course, Óscar was the most firmly partidary of that decision. So we finally decided to go south, deep into the desert, into the conflictive Western Sahara, to the region of Smara. There some friends have been lucky finding a desert monitor, and even if the target didn't appeared, there are some other cool saharan species that only can be found there and not in Morocco. 

 

As we entered in the Western Sahara, it was not surprising to find lots of police checkings in every village, as we are in a military occupied land. However, the cops were nice and we didn't have so much problems in none of the about tenth controls we had in all the day. Reptiles showed slowly, with at first only some dead skinks and snakes in cisterns. The first cool find was a huge horned viper (Cerastes cerastes), much beautiful than the ones we've found in Assa. As temperatures outside were at about 45ºC, we leave the snake inside the cistern and release and photographed it in our way back, at night.

 

Yet on Smara we found some individuals of the big white spotted wall gecko (Tarentola annularis), but no snakes and no monitors. The temperatures have gone to up to 53ºC and even on the shade there was a horrible heat sensation. The last cistern we checked was beside a big house, before checking we had to get into the car as a sand storm approached. Wind began to blow harder and harder, the visibility reduced to only a few meters and all was covered in sand. In a few minutes, as fast as it began, it ended and all was calm again.

 

Then, the owner of the house approached to us and we discover that he spoke perfect spanish. We told him that we were looking for reptiles and he said: "yes, we have lots of Uromastyx here". It is probably the first time we met someone on the field that knows the latin name of an herp. He also told us that he tend to see desert monitors around his house, but that they are shy and elusive. He proposed us to accompany him to a crevice between some rocks where he knew a big Uromastyx had his home. We went with him, looked into that crevice and there it was, a massive yellow banded dob (Uromastyx dispar flavifasciata), a species we didn't even expect to have a chance see on the trip. 

 

It was not so difficult to extract the big and calm lizard to get a better view and take some photographs. After that, we released it back again on its hole. After some nice talk with our new friend about all the animals in the area, we moved back to Tan-Tan. No luck with the monitor, but on our way back we saw a roadkilled false cobra (Ragheris moilensis), the only one of the trip, a big horned viper (Cerastes cerastes), and, before arriving to Tan-Tan, a subadult puff adder (Bitis arietans), the sixth of the trip. We were so tired we didn't even take photos of the puff adder, now we regret a little... 

 

Yellow banded dob (Uromastyx dispar flavifasciata). The soft light is due to the sand storm.

 

 

Our last two days of the trip were wasted in making a last try with the elusive Daboia. On 30th September we moved from Tan-Tan to Guelmin and on sunset searched a bit by foot near Bou Jeriff, with nothing but one more elegant gecko and a trusting jerboa. The following day we had to go to Marrakech to stay there yet on the 2th October to take our flight back to Madrid. On the route, between Guelmin and Tiznit, we found a very promising area full of cisterns and with very good Daboia habitat, but we didn't have so much time to explore it and only found common colubrids, skinks and the skin of a big montpellier snake, about more than 2m length. We have to explore better this area next time. 

 

 

This was surely the best nature trip I have had until the moment. Most friends had told us that it was hard to find snakes in Morocco; we have seen some of them returning from their visits with only a couple of common species and without none of the "big prizes". However, by one thing or another we ended our first Morocco expedition with 60 live snakes of 14 species. We found three of our five greatest targets, and with more than one individual in the cases of the puff adder (6) and carpet viper (3), plus much more other very interesting species, some of them truly surprises.

 

Some people have told us that ours is the best herpetological trip they have seen to Morocco. I really feel we have been very lucky with the reptile activity, but I also think that this great result is primarily due to our careful preparation, our inexhaustible desire to encounter more and more animals, and the great team we formed. I also have to thank all fellow herpers who helped us with this trip planning, as without their help we surely won't have had that magnificent result: Enrique Ruiz, Rubén Sánchez, Raúl León, Aritz Ibarzabal, Alberto Sánchez, Emilio, Sheri Bokhari and Gert Jan Verspui.

 

This have been our first trip to Morocco, but surely it won't be the last. I've been captivated by its impressive landscapes, its kind people and overall its amazing biodiversity. With such a nature paradise so close to our homes I'm sure that we'll go back there as soon as possible to find the last nature wonders this country has to offer. But, until then, I think it's time to return to the jungle...

 

 Species list

 

Amphibians:

- Pelophylax saharica

- Hyla meridionalis

- Barbarophryne brongersmai  x8

- Sclerophrys mauritanica  x1

- Bufotes boulengeri  x11

 

Reptiles (except snakes):

- Testudo graecca  x1

- Mauremys leprosa saharica

- Saurodactylus brosseti

- Tarentola mauritanica

- Tarentola boehmei

- Tarentola annularis

- Tarentola chazaliae x4

- Stenodactylus mauritanicus  x29

- Stenodactylus petrii  x1

- Tropiocolotes algericus  x13

- Ptyodactylus oudrii  x2

- Chamaeleo chamaeleon  x1

- Agama impalearis

- Trapelus boehmei  x1

- Uromastyx nigriventris  x10 + 2 Dead On Road (DOR)

- Uromastyx dispar  x1

- Eumeces algeriensis  x1

- Chalcides mionecton  x2

- Chalcides polylepis  x5

- Chalcides ocellatus  x1

- Sphenops boulengeri  x1 Dead On Cistern (DOC)

- Acanthodactylus margaritensis  x3

- Acanthodactylus pardalis  x5

- Acanthodactylus aureus  x1

- Acanthodactylus dumerilii  x1

 

Snakes:

- Myriopholis algeriensis  x1 

- Natrix maura  x2

- Hemorrhois hippocrepis  x12

- Spalerosophis dolichospilus  x4

- Spalerosophis diadema  x1 + 1 DOR

- Lytorhynchus diadema  x1

- Dasypeltis sahalensis  x1 dead

- Boaedon fuliginosus  x1 DOR

- Macroprotodon brevis  x2

- Ragheris moilensis  x1 DOR

- Psammophis schokari  x17 + 1 DOR

- Malpolon monspessulanus monspessulanus  x1

- M. monspessulanus saharatlanticus  x2

- Naja haje  x1

- Bitis arietans  x6 + 3 DOR + 1 DOC

- Echis leucogaster  x3

- Cerastes cerastes  x4 + 1 DOR

- Cerastes vipera  x2

- Daboia mauritanica  x1 DOR + 1 DOC