Introduction
Date: 15th December 2025 to 21st December 2025
The Team:
John Baldwin, Liam Botha, Marco Botha, Oliver Botha, Sean Botha, Suretha Botha, Courtney Hundenmark, Davin Manson, Eugene Mitton, Karen Mitton, Tyrone Ping, Elena Reljic
Campsites and Accommodation:
For the majority of the trip, the entire team stayed together, with the exception of Elena, who stayed at separate accommodation.
RW Safaris (first 3 nights): This site offered both accommodation and campsites.
Vivo Lodge (next 2 nights): The lodge provides accommodation only, but we were able arrange camping at Vivo Lodge. Note that Vivo Lodge can be tricky to locate on Google Maps, as it appears under Polokwane.
Wolffdanz Boerdery, Lephalale (final night): Only a smaller part of our group — Oliver, Liam, Sean, Marco, and Suretha — camped here. The other team members stayed at other accommodations, though I am unsure of the exact names.
Weather:
15th December – Soutpansberg (road north of Louis Trichardt): The south face of the mountain was foggy with a light drizzle, but as we crested the pass onto the north face, the skies cleared suddenly into bright sunshine. Temperatures were cool on the south face and warm on the north face, which may have contributed to Tyrone and Courtney finding a single Breviceps sylvestris taeniatus.
RW Safaris (15th–18th December): The weather at RW Safaris was noticeably different from the Soutpansberg. Days were mostly sunny and warm, with temperatures remaining pleasantly warm to hot on the 16th and 17th. By the 18th, cloud cover increased slightly, but light was still ample for herping.
17th December – Soutpansberg (Hanglip): The south face was much drier than on the 15th, which led to us not finding any additional Breviceps sylvestris taeniatus.
Vivo Lodge (18th–20th December): Overcast conditions dominated, with a light drizzle on the night of the 18th that brought out many Breviceps adspersus. Daytime temperatures were warm, and the skies remained cloudy on the 19th and 20th.
20th December - Tsolametse: Warm to hot with very little cloud cover, providing ideal conditions for finding Platysaurus monotropis.
Lephalale (20th–21st December): Warm with mostly clear skies. Interestingly, we found an unusually high number of Xenocalamus bicolor bicolor. Being fossorial, I would normally expect to encounter them in wetter conditions, so this was unusual.
Statistics:
Live Species found (70):
Soutpansberg Legless Skink - Acontias cregoi, Pienaar's Rock Gecko - Afroedura pienaari, Transvaal Flat Gecko - Afroedura transvaalica, Waterberg Flat Gecko - Afroedura waterbergensis, Bibron's Blind Snake - Afrotyphlops bibronii, Eastern Ground Agama - Agama aculeata distanti, Speckled Shield-nose Snake - Aspidelaps scutatus scutatus, Bibron's Stiletto Snake - Atractaspis bibronii, Common Puff Adder - Bitis arietans arietans, Horned Adder - Bitis caudalis, Brown House Snake - Boaedon capensis, Common Rain Frog - Breviceps adspersus, Soutpansberg Forest Rain Frog - Breviceps sylvestris taeniatus, Flap-necked Chameleon - Chamaeleo dilepis, Southern Foam Nest Frog - Chiromantis xerampelina, Turner's Gecko - Chondrodactylus turneri, Common Girdled Lizard - Cordylus vittifer, Red-lipped Snake - Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia, Rhombic Egg-eater - Dasypeltis scabra, Boulenger's Garter Snake - Elapsoidea cf. boulengeri, Long-tailed Garter Snake - Elapsoidea sundevallii longicauda, Yellow-throated Plated Lizard - Gerrhosaurus flavigularis, Black File Snake - Gracililima nyassae, Bushveld Lizard - Heliobolus lugubris, Eastern Bark Snake - Hemirhagerrhis nototaenia, Arnold's Velvet Gecko - Homopholis arnoldi, Wahlberg's Velvet Gecko - Homopholis wahlbergii, Bubbling Kassina - Kassina senegalensis, Speke’s Hinged Tortoise - Kinixys spekii, Incognito Thread Snake - Leptotyphlops incognitus, Common Brown Water Snake - Lycodonomorphus rufulus, Cape Wolf Snake - Lycophidion capense capense, Bradfield's Dwarf Gecko - Lygodactylus bradfieldi, Cryptic Dwarf Gecko - Lygodactylus incognitus, Long-tailed Thread Snake - Myriopholis longicauda, Mozambique Spitting Cobra - Naja mossambica, Speckled Thick Toed Gecko - Pachydactylus punctatus, Van Son's Gecko - Pachydactylus vansoni, Spotted-neck Snake-eyed Skink - Panaspis maculicollis, Helmeted Terrapin - Pelomedusa subrufra, Red-Banded Rubber Frog - Phrynomantis bifasciatus, Waterberg Flat Lizard - Platysaurus minor, Orange-throated Flat Lizard - Platysaurus monotropis, Soutpansberg Flat Lizard - Platysaurus relictus, Olive Grass Snake - Psammophis mossambicus, Western Yellow-bellied Sand Snake - Psammophis subtaeniatus, Common Barking Gecko - Ptenopus garrulus, Plain Grass Frog - Ptychadena anchietae, Southern African Python - Python natalensis, Edible Bull Frog - Pyxicephalus edulis, Delalande's Beaked Blind Snake - Rhinotyphlops lalandei, Red Toad - Schismaderma carens, Garman's Toad - Sclerophrys garmani, Waterberg Dragon Lizard - Smaug breyeri, Soutpansberg Dragon Lizard - Smaug depressus, Leopard Tortoise - Stigmochelys pardalis, Eastern Tiger Snake - Telescopus semiannulatus semiannulatus, Tremelo Sand Frog - Tomopterna adiastola, Natal Sand Frog - Tomopterna natalensis, Cape Skink - Trachylepis capensis, Rainbow Skink - Trachylepis margaritifer, Speckled Rock Skink - Trachylepis punctatissima, Striped Skink - Trachylepis striata, Variable Skink - Trachylepis varia, Rock Monitor - Varanus albigularis albigularis, Bicoloured Quill-snouted Snake - Xenocalamus bicolor bicolor, Müller's Clawed Frog - Xenopus muelleri, Kalahari Round-snouted Worm Lizard - Zygaspis quadrifrons
Highlights:
Hemirhagerrhis nototaenia:
One of the many funny stories from the trip is how we ended up finding Hemirhagerrhis nototaenia.
It was around 12 pm on the 16th Davin, Eugene, John & Karin had gone out to a dam within RW Safaris, while the rest of us – Courtney, Liam, Marco, Oliver, Suretha & myself - stayed back to photograph some of the animals that we had previously captured. I had just finished with my photography and was sitting on a wooden fence, made from what I presume to be the branches of a fallen tree, under the shade of the patio roof, watching Tyrone photograph the Aspidelaps scutatus scutatus from the previous night and Courtney photograph the Bitis caudalis also from the previous night.
Suddenly, a movement, in the corner of my eye, caught my attention, it was a Bark Snake, calmly I picked it up and announced: “I found a Mopane Snake” (Or something in that line). Everyone was quite pleased with the find, but we decided to wait for the others to get back before we told them. Meanwhile, out in the scorching heat, the others had only managed to find a Varanus albigularis albigularis, Parabuthus transvaalicus and two Zygaspis quadrifrons - Which they did not bring back.
This find told us a good lesson, snakes do not like the heat.
Some roads are better than others:
On the 18th, we were leaving for Vivo Lodge and decided to take the road from Musina to Pont Drift — a route we had cruised extensively on previous nights — and then continue from Pont Drift to Vivo Lodge through Alldays.
The Musina to Pont Drift portion was mostly fine, with only a few minor potholes. But as soon as we turned left just before Pont Drift, heading south toward Alldays, things quickly deteriorated. At first, the road seemed smooth, but then the potholes began. And they didn’t just stop at being deep holes — they grew and grew until they had effectively consumed the entire road.
What made it truly treacherous were the “pothills” — patches of road that stuck up like tiny hills, forcing you to choose between driving into a hole or over a mini-mountain. Potholes are bad enough, but pothills? That’s next-level driving.
The lesson? Sometimes it’s better to take the road more often travelled.
Conclusion:
Over the course of 6 days we explored many different habitats, ranging from Sandveld to Afromontane Forests and everything in between. We found many different species ranging from small to big, covering a wide range of niches.
The hours in the sun, or the little sleep fade in comparison with the experiences we gained. Like every trip, those 6 days felt like a lifetime and will probably always feel like it happened yesterday. I really do believe I speak for the entire group when I say I enjoyed every moment.
Like every great herping trip, I will say: “I wanna do it again.”
Videos:
Images:
