The Journey is the Prize!

Nose-horned Viper, Vipera ammodytes

I have to say that it’s been a fabulous time away, and I’d like to thank Matt and Carl, without whom the herping would not have been half so interesting, and also Adam in Manchester, without whom the chill out would not have been so thought free. One of the main aims of my trip was to find and photograph a Nose-horned Viper, Vipera ammodytes. It’s something I have wanted to see in the wild for a long time, and a species that remained totally elusive on my last trip to Corfu.

Under your nose mate! Close up of eye, heat-sensing pit, and nose horn. (c) Andrew Gray

All the different snakes we have come across on this trip have been found mainly through searching for this one species. Distances traveled by car, on foot, through orchards, olive groves, pastures, mountainsides and valleys. But no sign of a viper throughout all that thorough searching. If I had found one though, maybe I wouldn’t have been able to share all the other amazing species with you over the past week. I hope you have enjoyed my posts from Corfu as much as I have enjoyed sharing my trip with you. A couple of things I have had reinforced by my experience looking for the viper, is that what you gain along the way to achieving an aim is sometimes as or more rewarding than actually fulfilling it, and that often the very thing you are searching for can be right there under you nose all the time. It all works.