Every year, we carry out field trips to find and photograph various species of reptile and amphibians in their natural habitat, and these wildlife-photography expeditions see us travelling to some of the World's most remote regions. See below to find out about some of the amazing countries we've been lucky enough to explore!
Expeditions.
Papua New Guinea
Since 2016, Tom has been making regular visits out to Papua New Guinea - up to three times a year - to work in a snakebite mitigation program in Central Province, laregely focusing on the Papuan taipan. Further to this, he's made trips up to Oro Province as part of an toxinology expedition with the Charles Campbell Toxinology Centre.
We've been lucky enough to have travelled all over Australia during numerous trips since 2011, in search of the incredible diversity of reptiles, amphibians and other wildlife found there. Some memorable encounters include the green tree python, perentie monitor lizard, and the World's most venomous snake - the inland taipan!
Australia
Nepal
November 2017 saw us making our very first trip to the Indian subcontient, flying in to Kathmandu and visit two national parks in Central and Western Nepal. We got to see the endangered gharial crocodile, five Bengal tiger and, despite coming into winter, a number of snake species inlcuding a Burmese python.
Taiwan
A short, week-long visit to the mountainous region of Northern Taiwan in 2017 saw us turning up a huge number of snakes - over 125 specimens covering 16 species. Some of the rarities turned up on this trip included the red bamboo ratsnake, Mandarin ratsnakes and Hatori's corals snake. We're already looking forward to heading back sometime soon.
Thailand
We've had plenty of opportunities to travel through Northern, Central and Southern Thailand in search of not just reptiles and amphibians but also the huge variety of mammals that call this country home. Some memorable encounters here include king cobras, beautiful pitvipers, yellow banded kraits....and elephants!
Indonesia
The vast and stunning island nation of Indonesia has a huge number of endemic animal species, and we've spent time exploring Sumatra, Sulawesi, Bali, Sumbawa, Flores and Komodo national park in search of them! Without doubt, the first time seeing a wild Komodo dragon has been absolute highlight of our time here.
Uganda
Our single visit to Uganda in October 2018 was a huge success, with us finding and photographing almost all of our target species including the Gaboon viper, hairy bush viper, variable bush viper and two beautiful forest cobras! Next visit, we'll be hoping for Jameson's mambas and rhino vipers....
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia is without doubt our favourite destination in the World, and we've spent more time exploring here than anywhere else! We've turned up a huge variety of the snakes found here, and Tom has authored the most recently-published field guide to the snakes of this beautiful and diverse country.
Vietnam
We've made field trips to both Northern and Southern Vietnam in 2016, 2018 and 2020. Our main target for the north - the incredibly rare Fea's viper - is still remaining elusive to us which means future visits will be in the pipeline.
Singapore
Despite its tiny size, the highly urbanised island of Singapore is incredibly rich in snake species. Stopping off here reguarly, we've had plenty of time to explore the remaining patches of forest to find the wildlife that continues to flourish within a stones-throw of the busy city areas.
USA
May 2011 saw us flying out to the United States for a short 5-day trip to find and photograph timber rattlesnakes. We spent time herping in the states of New Jersey and Pennysylvania where we encountered northern copperheds, black racers and ring-neck snakes amongst others, along with plenty of timber rattlesnakes!
Borneo
First visiting Borneo in 2004, we've made over 10 further trips to Sabah and Sarawak, largely concentrating our efforts around Mount Kinabalu in the north. With much time and effort spend searching for snakes, we've turned up many iconic species including Malcolm's pitviper, Sumatran pitviper and the Kinabalu krait.
Philippines
Our time in the Philippines has been limited, and we've only had the chance to travel to Palawan and Coron islands back in 2018. Even so, we loved every minute of it! Some of the species found during this trip includes the Philippine coral snake, yellow-lipped sea krait and Palwan yellow-striped snake.
Morocco
Just a 3 hour flight from London, Morocco has been the destination of a number of short field trips in recent years. We've made several visits to southern Morocco since 2015, ticking off some of its most iconic reptiles including the Moroccan black cobra, puff adder, white-bellied carpet viper and desert horned viper.
Europe
Whilst perhaps not quite as diverse as the tropics, Europe is still home to a wonderful assorment of reptiles, and we've spent time photographing some of them both in the UK and abroad. Two field trips to the rural villages surrounding Madrid to find the asp viper and Lataste's viper being our favourties!
