TIMOR-LESTE REPTILE & AMPHIBIAN SURVEY
RETURN TO RINCA

Only three front-fanged venomous snakes occur in the Lesser Sunda Islands and in 2001 I had found the pitviper and the Indonesian spitting cobra (Naja sputatrix), but not the Russell's viper. This time we did not find a live cobra, but we did find the freshly sloughed skin of one, almost exactly where I caught the specimen in 2001, close to one of the dragon nests. We presented the sloughed skin to the Rangers Station.

Shed skin of Indonesian spitting cobra Naja sputatrix	The old dragon nest site where we filmed in 2001

After a very successful, if short, Return to Rinca, we headed back to Labuan Bajo, arriving as the sun was setting, and retired to the modern and scenically situated Laprima Hotel.

Labuan Bajo port	The Laprima Hotel

We did not stay up late, both because we were all very tired and because we had another early start the next morning.

The view from the Laprima Hotel

Click on any image to enlarge it