Last minute I booked a 5-day trip to Marrakesh, Morocco. It was my first time going outside Europe! I was traveling together with Eddy. We travelled from Marrakesh through Agadir all the way to Assa and back.

25 January 2024

Early in the morning we flew from Eindhoven to Marrakesh. After we arrived we had to wait a long time before a person from the car rental came to us. Around 1:00pm we drove away and after two short stops at a supermarket and gasstation we headed towards Agadir. On the way we decided to skip some of the spots I had prepared, because of the delay. Our first stop was to see a new subspecies of Mauremys leprosa. We stopped along the river 'Oued Massa’. It didn't take long before we spotted the first Mauremys leprosa saharica. In total we saw at least 12 of them. Some individuals did show their blue eyes! Then we continued our way to the first accomodation we had booked already. Along the road we stopped once to lift stones. There I found some Saurodactylus harrisii. After we checked in at our accomodation, we went eating at a beach restaurant. Later that evening we did search for Barbarophryne brongersmai, but unfortunately we couldn't find it because of the dryness. The stream was totally dried out… but at least we found a lot of Tarentola mauritanica juliae. A new subspecies for me.

26 January 2024

The next day we started at the beach next to a nice lagoon. There we found Testudo graeca soussensis, Tarentola mauritanica, Acanthodactylus aureus and tracks of Chalcides sp. The Acanthodactylus we spotted was basking in front of a bush, but it was really shy. Before we started driving in the direction of Tafraout, I checked the first well we spotted along the road. Only some Tarentola mauritanica were inside it. Then just before we approached Tafraout we made a stop along the road. There I already found two Saurodactylus elmoudenii. I knew there were some wells north of Tafraout, so we decided to check them first. Out of the wells we saved Tarentola mauritanica, Agama bibronii and Pelophylax saharicus. Unfortunately, we found some dead Agama bibronii and Eumeces algeriensis as well. We released the Pelophylax between some green plants, because we couldn't find water in the area. Also we spotted a basking Agama bibronii along the road. At the other side of the road we searched especially for Quedenfeldtia moerens, but we couldn't find it. We did find there another Saurodactylus elmoudenii, Mesalina simoni and a shed of probably Psammophis schokari. It was almost evening and we decided to already drive a bit in the direction of Assa. So we drove south and stopped a few times for some wells. We only found Tarentola sp. and two dead Agama bibronii. It took a long time before we found a place to sleep, but finally we could sleep somewhere on a camping near Icht. At the window of our accomodation there was the first Tarentola boehmei! That night we searched a bit around the camping. First I flipped Tropiocolotes algericus and after that I found two stunning Stenodactylus mauritanicus as well! It was totally dry, so again we found no amphibians.

27 January 2024

The next day we drove towards Assa. We stopped two times between Fam El Hisn and Assa. There we found Mesalina guttulata and Tarentola boehmei. We tried to find Uromastyx nigriventris but we had no luck... Near Assa we finally found some water. But it was out range for toads, so we only found some Pelophylax saharicus. On that spot we later found Tarentola boehmei as well. After checking in at our accomodation in Assa, we drove a bit south towards Zag to see the dried river ‘Draa’. There a little incident happened… our rental car got damaged by hitting a pole. We had a puncture, so we swapped the tyres. After that we drove to a garage in Assa to get a new tyre and everything was solved. That night I searched at two different spots for Ptyodactylus oudrii, this time on my own. Unfortunately I only found a lot of Tarentola boehmei.

28 January 2024

Today the focus was fully on looking for animals in wells. First we drove from Assa to Guelmim. Then along the road from Guelmim to Tan-tan we looked in most of the wells we came across. We found our first snake species Psammophis schokari three times and some Tarentola mauritanica. Also we found a dead Chalcides polylepis. After that we drove in the direction of Tiznit. Along the road we stopped a few times for some wells. First I found only Tarentola mauritanica. Then I discovered some standing water where I already found three Pelophylax saharicus under the first stone I lifted! After lifting a few more stones we found many Sclerophrys mauritanica, Saurodactylus harrisii, Tarentola mauritanica and more Pelophylax saharicus in the water. From Sclerophrys we found very small and large ones. Also we spotted one Mesalina sp. next to the water. After this really succesful stop we drove to Sidi Ouassay for our last night of searching. My main target for that night was Tarentola chazaliae, a really cool looking gecko species. Also we looked a bit for Chamaeleo chamaeleon. We searched for a few hours in the dunes behind the beach. After some time I found my target Tarentola chazaliae! Further we didn't find any herps that night, but I was really happy with that new gecko species.

29 January 2024

Today we visited the Souss-Massa national park. Our last chance to find new species. We only had a couple of hours to search, because of our flight the next day. The first things we found were Tarentola mauritanica, a dead Bufotes boulengeri and tracks of both Chalcides sp. and Testudo graeca. Then after a long search I finally found Acanthodactylus margaritae. It was really shy and after a few seconds already gone. Lastly I found a very small Chalcides mionecton to end this (short) day with! It was very warm already and we hadn't any water left, so we went back to the car. After a short stop for some bottles of water we drove back to Marrakesh where we had a very nice evening! The next day just after 1.00pm we flew back to Holland.