Reptiles of Namibia (Focus on venomous snakes)

[Xeropaga81]

Hello Folks

I am Wildlife Photographer and Snakes specialist from Switzerland, traveling through the Southwest of the USA and Southern Africa,
always looking for some amazing snakes and reptiles in general. Here some impressions from my 4 weeks trip through the south of Namibia - hope you will like it

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/1000 sec
• ISO 200

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/1000 sec
• ISO 200

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/160 sec
• ISO 400

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/18
• 1/400 sec
• ISO 800

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/10
• 1/40 sec
• ISO 2000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/16
• 1/160 sec
• ISO 1000

• ILCE-9M2
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/3.5
• 1/200 sec
• ISO 250

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
• 90.0 mm
• ƒ/11
• 1/100 sec
• ISO 125

• ILCE-9M2
• FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM
• 40.0 mm
• ƒ/5
• 1/200 sec
• ISO 100

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM
• 38.0 mm
• ƒ/4.5
• 1/160 sec
• ISO 100

 

[Tim Mayo]

I'm not a big fan of snakes after watching Indiana Jones too many times when I was younger, but these are fantastic! How did you even spot the first snake? The camouflage is brilliant!

 

[Xeropaga81]

I'm not a big fan of snakes after watching Indiana Jones too many times when I was younger, but these are fantastic! How did you even spot the first snake? The camouflage is brilliant!

Thanks for the compliments - appreciate !
HaHa, I was not expecting much of "love" for snakes here ;-) But snakes are fantastic creatures and play an absolute vital role for the habitats they life in. It' all about having trained eyes and good ears, sometimes you can hear them before you can spot one. But it's much more difficult as most people would expect. They are everywhere but you almost never see them ......they are like ghosts.

 

[Raindog]

Thanks for the compliments - appreciate !
HaHa, I was not expecting much of "love" for snakes here ;-) But snakes are fantastic creatures and play an absolute vital role for the habitats they life in. It' all about having trained eyes and good ears, sometimes you can hear them before you can spot one. But it's much more difficult as most people would expect. They are everywhere but you almost never see them ......they are like ghosts.

Great pics, well done! I was fortunate enough to get close to some snakes while on safari in Namibia, but they were brought in by a snake expert. We didn't see any out in the wild. As you say, they are like ghosts!

How close were you when shooting the 90mm?!

 

[Xeropaga81]

Great pics, well done! I was fortunate enough to get close to some snakes while on safari in Namibia, but they were brought in by a snake expert. We didn't see any out in the wild. As you say, they are like ghosts!

How close were you when shooting the 90mm?!

Thanks man, I appreciate ..
Yes, it is really difficult and there are still lots of people in the world thinking there are snakes in Africa EVERYWHERE. And actually they are, but not visible for you. Mostly because they are active in the late evening, over night and really mornings when 99.9% of the tourists are sleeping in their camps or lodges. So we went out at night to find them, it's easier when they are out of their burrows or crevices in the field looking for food

Yeah, with the 90mm Sony Macro I had to get very close, sometimes even VERY VERY close to some of these specimens. Depending on the size of the snakes this was 20cm to maybe 100cm. But that's nothing you can do alone, you need another pro who knows what is close enough and lets you know when the snake is moving towards you - sometimes difficult to get this feeling through the EVF So for the smaller Vipers it was mostly somewhere in the 20-50cm range and for the cobra it was max. a 100cm away.

Cheers

 

[Deleted Member 0001]

Great shots, well done.

 

[Xeropaga81]

Great shots, well done.

Oh, thanks man, very nice of you - I appreciate. Did my best, not always easy with dangerous animals as you can imagine

 

[seuadr]

snakes have a charasma about them, in my opinion anyhow. They still creep me out when i don't know that they are there and they suddenly move, but we've had a number of harmless species on our property that were quite interesting. (just one venomous species natural to where i live, fortunately)

 

[Xeropaga81]

snakes have a charasma about them, in my opinion anyhow. They still creep me out when i don't know that they are there and they suddenly move, but we've had a number of harmless species on our property that were quite interesting. (just one venomous species natural to where i live, fortunately)

Yes they have, unfortunately too many people are scared of them. But that's most because of the lack of knowledge, knowledge is the key trust me. The more you know about them, the better you will understand what an important role they play in our environment. Thanks a lot for your nice comment man, I appreciate! Cheers