Back in 2023 we were invited to a wedding in Singapore! Here just a view pics from that trip. We were mainly sightseeing and celebrating, but also had a short exkursion to the Kranji Coastal Nature Park. As far as I had no camera equipment with me, all pics were shot with the mobile phone, therefore low picture quality.

 

The Supertree Grove in the Gardens by the Bay. Many things in Singapore are just gigantomaniacal.

 

A big part of the celebrations was getting the hands painted with henna/Mehndi 😀

 

 

For the first time in my life I saw crocodiles in their natural habitat!! This one was basking right next to the path. All together we could observe 3 crocodiles. The species is Crocodylus porosus / Leistenkrokodil / saltwater crocodile, the biggest crocodile still living.

 

Salt water crocodile/Leistenkrokodil in its natural habitat: Mangrove swamps

The second highlight in Singapore is the amount of monitor lizards you can observe there! In most of the parks there are many of them present, and they are quite relaxed, so you can easily photograph them. Here: Asian water monitor / Varanus salvator / Bindenwaran

 

And here a video of a mating attempt of Varanus nebulosus / Clouded monitor / Nebelwaran, the second very common monitor lizard species.

A baby crocodile!!! 😍 Basking on a tree!!

All in all it was a really nice trip (even though we were only one day in nature), the wedding was really amazing, and I saw crocodiles! And tons of monitors!

The random song reference in the end: Phildel

In 2024 the common adder (Kreuzotter / Vipera berus) was announced as the "reptile of the year". Because of that, Christoph organised an excursion for the Austrian Herpetological Society to visit a place in Lower Austria that is well known for it's population of the common adder.
Even though we were only 5 persons looking for herps, we were really successful: we saw at least 5 vipers. But also for other reasons it was a very interesting trip. We found at least 7 species of orchids, many viviparous lizards (Bergeidechse / Zootoca vivipara) and some other reptiles and amphibians (like slow worm and fire salamander).

 

We found several orchid species, amongst them the lady's-slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus / Gelber Frauenschuh).

 

One of the common adders (Vipera berus / Kreuzotter) was basking exposed on a pile of brushwood.

 

 

End of May in the mountains: all the plants were in beautiful shades of green

The vipers had all types of colouration and patterns :-)

 

This page links to excursions that were more memorable to me than others . There are mainly three reasons for that -- because of the destination, the experience and/or because I especially like that pictures :-)

 

Carinthia 2024	Polar lights

Kazakhstan I	Kazakhstan II
Kyrgyzstan	Croatia / Krk

Oman I	Oman II
Tirol	Hochschwab