The new year kicked off in a great way with a trip to northern KZN. We left early on 2 January 2025, and our three vehicles met up just on the other side of Piet Retief when we stopped for a dead on the road (DOR) Common Slug Eater.
After lunch at the Mkhuze Sportsfield, we drove around to a little pan where we stopped to flip some rocks. One of the kids found a baby Water monitor, the first time I have seen such a small one.
Then we were off for the last stretch to our accommodation just outside St Lucia.
St Lucia
When we arrived in St Lucia it was very hot, and we all enjoyed a quick splash in the pool. We then went on a short walk where we found a Brown House Snake and another baby Water Monitor. Then we were off on our first night time road cruise.
Road Cruising – St Lucia
Our first spot was another DoR – this time a fairly large Vine Snake on the road leading up to the entrance to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. A couple of nights later we found a decent sized Green Mamba, also DoR. We were all a little sad about this – everyone really wanted to see live, wild specimens of this venomous snakes.
Road cruising during the two nights we stayed outside St Lucia delivered a couple of nice finds, but the second night was very quiet. One of the first finds was a Common Slug Eater, luckily this one was alive.
Our vehicle was following a short distance behind the other when we saw it stop suddenly and one of the boys jump out – they had just seen a python disappear into the grass next to the road. We all looked and fortunately we found this gorgeous African Python.
Another wonderful find was this Black File Snake. I find them fascinating because they feel so very different compared to other snakes and when you touch them you understand where they get their name from. Their scales are much rougher than those of other snakes and the snake feels exactly like a metal file.
My first Lifer of the trip was a Common Purple Gloss Snake. It wasn’t a large specimen, but very pretty. 
Another delightful find was one of the cutest little snakes – an East African Shovel-snout. With a face like that it was definitely the most adorable snake we found during the trip!
St Lucia Frogs
Our snake finds during our stay in St Lucia may have been a little scarce, but a short burst of rain brought out the little frogs in droves. I am not overly fond of common names as they can vary, but I have used the common names from my Frog Book.
There were many Reed Frog Species, including this Argus Reed Frog and Water Lily Reed Frog.
Painted Reed Frogs come in different colours.
Two of the cutest little frogs were a little Natal Forest Tree Frog and a Tinker Reed Frog.
Another cute little guy was a Greater Leaf Folding Frog. 
We also saw many Red Toads and a few Olive and Racous Toads.
St Lucia Property & St Lucia Town
We also looked for snakes during the day in St Lucia. We found many of these Tree Creeping Scorpions. one of the larger scorpion species.
We scratched around an abandoned property in St Lucia when one of our group spotted something green on an old rusted metal gate – it was a snake! This beautiful Eastern Natal Green snake was another lifer for me.
We also went for a night time walk in the forest in St Lucia. The walk delivered a few lifers, including a Setaro’s Dwarf Chameleon. Night time walks are always an opportunity to find sleeping Butterflies, and I found a few, including a Spotted Cilate Blue, another lifer. I was surprised to find a large sleeping Dragonfly, but not unhappy as this Two Banded Cruiser was also a lifer.
While we were photographing the snakes the owner of the property where we were staying came past and mentioned that they have a trampoline that was built into the ground and often find snakes there. He invited us to come and have a look. We found two snakes – a Brown House Snake and another lifer for me in the form of this pretty Marbled Tree Snake.
While we were photographing this snake my brother noticed movement in the tree right next to his head. It was another Setaro’s Dwarf Chameleon! I was so happy as I could now take a few better photos than the poor cell phone photos from the night before.
iSimangaliso Wetland Park
I visited St Lucia as part of my Year of Travel in 2023, and while I found most of the lifers I was looking for, I dipped on the Southern-banded Snake Eagle. I knew we would be visiting the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, and even though I was with non-birders, I was hoping that we would find this endangered raptor. Not long after we entered the Park my brother spotted it on a pole on his side of the road. I was so happy! This raptor has a very small distribution in SA and is classified as near-threatened. Seeing this bird was very special indeed.
We stopped at Mission Rocks. As we left we found a couple of Dagga Boys rolling in the mud.
We stopped at one of the bird hides in the Park. And there we found a super pretty Green Water Snake – Lifer no 4 for me.
Birding and other things
With this being a herping trip, I knew I had to get my birding in in some other way, and I took my opportunities where I could find them. While having lunch at Mkhuze I saw Woodland Kingfishers, Purple-banded Sunbirds and a pair of Trumpeter Hornbills. While staying in St Lucia I saw White-eared Barbets, a Black Saw-wing, a Purple-crested Turaco and White-backed Ducks and Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters in iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
The most unexpected sighting was without a doubt a Palm-nut Vulture that I spotted on our walk on the first afternoon. I did not have my camera with me, but this was such an unexpected sighting I could hardly believe my eyes.
Being me, I had to scratch around the property at night to look for spiders and things. I found numerous Neoscona Hairy Field Spiders and a Vlei Spider. I also found this Nilus Fishing Spider. It looked very different from the Fishing Spiders I have seen before.
Hluhluwe Area
After two nights in St Lucia we moved to a lodge in the Hluhluwe Area not far from the False Bay area on the north Western Part of Lake St Lucia.
Road Cruising
We cruised the roads near the False Bay area a couple of times, but sadly did not find any snakes of note. The kids found a couple of Flap-necked Chameleons. The standout find was a Variegated Slug Eater, but unfortunately is was not a live find. This was disappointing as it would have been a lifer for all of the group.
We also cruised the Thembe Road one night. Just before dusk we stopped next to the road and found a Herald Snake and a Stiletto snake. One of the guys also found a Egg Eater. It started pouring with rain later that night and the rain brought out this Schlegel’s Beaked Blind Snake. I’ve only seen one once before – on a road in Kruger, so it was nice to get a close-up view of this snake. It has a very strange face!
We also saw a a pretty Foam Nest Frog.
On the way back we found a Marbled Tree Snake on the road eating a little frog. This was a very cool find.
There were two non-reptile related highlights though. On the first night we found a few porcupines crossing the road. It is not often that you see these nocturnal animals, so this was really great. Another great find (for me at least) was a Wood Owl. I have only seen this owl twice before, but never managed a photo. This cell phone pic is terrible, but at least I now have a record shot!
Hluhluwe Lodge property
While two of our group were having coffee one morning, an Eastern Natal Green Snaked dropped onto the table next to them. None of us complained. This snake was a little bigger than the one we found in St Lucia and equally pretty.
On our way out one night we saw this large and beautiful Flap-necked Chameleon right next to the road.
We were also able to explore two neighboring properties. Again no luck with snakes, but we found a huge and very pretty Whalberg’s Velvet Gecko. When you stroke its body you know where it gets its name from – it really feels like velvet! 
The second property had my dream garden. It was lush and green and there were many mango trees. But the highlight was that this garden also boasted TWO Baobab Trees! The perfect garden!
While we waited for the other car to return to the lodge so we could lock the gate, we scratched around in the grass and some trees and found a few Brown-backed Tree Frogs. This has to be one of the cutest grogs we found.
Hluhluwe Lodge property – Birds and other Small Things
While the stay at the lodge in Hluhluwe was disappointing from a snake perspective, I was in my element as the bird and spider finds were incredible. During a walk on the first afternoon I saw Brown-backed Weavers, Red-capped Robin-chats and a Black Flycatcher. Later during our stay I saw a Yellow-breasted Apalis, a Square-tailed Drongo and a small group of Crested Guineafowls. I heard the call of the gorgeous Bushshrike every day, but true to its nature it remained well hidden.
There were also lots of small creatures. I found this Longhorn Beetle in one of our rooms.
It was also breeding season for the moths and we caught a few in the act. I found a pair of colourful African False Tigers during my afternoon walk and then we saw Hawk moths on a night walk. There were a few very large hairy caterpillars with very cute faces. It could be from the Eggar Moth family. 
The spider finds were however incredible. Once again I found a few Neoscona Hairy Field Spiders.
I also found two Araneus species Orb Web Spiders. The black one looks very fluffy!
Two new species for my list were a very cute Holcolaetis zuluensis Jumping Spider that jumped onto one of our group’s shirt and a Garbage Line Spider.
I bought a little sweep net and it allowed me to find many little spiders that would have been difficult to spot. These included a African Masked Crab Spider, a Pajama Spider and two Flower Crab Spiders.
A Mexcala Elegans Jumping Spider visited me in my room and I also found many Banded-legged Golden Orb-web Spiders on the property.
But the best find had to be this gorgeous Bark Spider. I saw them for the first time during my 2023 Year of Travel, and I find them completely fascinating. Once they settle in position on a branch, they become invisible. Their camouflage is incredible.
Kosi Bay
We spent the last night of our trip at the Kosi Bay Lodge.
Road Cruising
We cruised the Thembe Road again. We found a few Brown House Snakes and a few DoR snakes. A few frogs included a Common Rain Frog and a Sand Frog.
Kosi Bay Lodge Birds and other Small Things
Notable birds finds at the lodge included White-backed Ducks, African Pygmy Geese, an Olive Sunbird, Black-bellied Starlings and more Trumpeter Hornbills. At the end of the trip I listed 119 bird species, not too shabby given that I had to do most of my birding from a moving car!
We took a couple of walks around the Kosi Bay Lodge property and found a few small creatures. We did find one snake – a Herald Snake. Frogs included more new ones for me – a Shovel-footed Squeaker and this Common Red-legged Wot-wot.
There were also a Banded Rubber Frog and another Argus Reed Frog.
Once again I found quite a few cool Spiders. I loved this Green Pea Spider.
This Grass Crab Spider was caught in my sweep net.
My brother flipped a rock for the best find – a stunning Starburst Baboon Spider. She had a few tiny babies with her, so I took a quick cellphone pic and left her in peace to tend to her precious brood.
On the morning we left, the boys were asked to remove a snake near one of the chalets. It was a large Common Purple Glossed Snake – much, much bigger than the one we found in St Lucia.
While this trip did not live up to the expectations given the snake list from some of the group’s 2023 trip, I had a great time. I explored a part of the country that I had never been to before and found lots of cool creatures.