Baja California Sur has been one of my favorite places in the world to travel and visit through. Not just for the herping but, great tasting beer, friendly people, deserted picturesque beaches, cheap beer, delicious tacos of all sorts, entire mountain ranges to yourself, great variety of herps, and an endless amount of beer, etc., This was a trip from this past September. With the year wrapping up and myself taking a break from herping and the herp scene for a while after this year, I wanted to make one last venture to this paradise of sorts one more time. After all, I don’t know when I will be able to go to Baja again.
I’ve been visiting Baja for over a dozen years now and things are rapidly changing. Many of the towns have over the years changed from one sleepy village to business boomed towns. When I first visited Cabo San Lucas in 1993, it was at the time, to me, a big sized city with a few extravagant hotels and resorts. However, you could still road cruise for herps outside the city limits. That’s not case anymore. Cabo San Lucas has become a tourist mecca, completely built up and the traffic from La Paz has become a damn near freeway at times. I, for the most part avoid the Cape completely now. The peninsula south of El Rosario and north of La Paz is still mostly wide open and many frontiers left for the desert rat person to get away completely not seeing a single soul in months. This is the Baja I love. Now that I’m a little older, the roughing part has changed from long miserable campouts to relaxing hotel rooms. With the recent introduction of the internet in to remote Baja, you can visually pick out a place to stay for cheap before leaving. Tourism has really picked up over the years thus increasing better cleaned up places to stay and Mexican Hwy 1 almost pot-hole less. The former is a pleasant surprise for any regular traveler. I used to hate that one time horrible road lol.
Sometimes you can’t judge a book by its cover. Hotel Bano, Loreto (Near the gas station)
Loreto Pemex
The inside could surprise you!! Not bad for $50 a night.
Hotel room Bahia de Los Angeles
This is one of the best Taco Stands in Mexico ever! McLulu’s in Loreto. I strongly recommend it for any one visiting the area. Good beer selection too.
Taco Stand Loreto
There’s never a dull moment. You can relax at a public beach with a full service bar like here at Conception Bay or……….
Conception Bay
bring the cooler and have your own private beach out in the middle of nowhere.
Punta Tasajera
Your view from beach of turquoise clear blue water and midriff islands can’t get old. I had a few beers to this view.
Punta el Estuche
Some of the smaller towns have a lot to do as well. If you have a woman with you, shopping is always fun for them. I prefer to get away from that and go for walks and check things out. In the oasis towns, the palm areas are a great place for a walk.
Rio Mulege
I always try and spot the Baja sliders. They are very weary and hard to get close to. This is the best I could do for a pic without scaring the turtle.
Baja California Slider, T.nebulosa
While taking a leisure stroll around anyone of these towns you have to think to yourself (If you’re a herper), “How much and what herps do these people find in their yard every year. Not to mention worse, how many do they kill? Look at this habitat where some of these people live. It’s got to make you think.
San Ignacio
Herping in Baja can be spectacular or a big disappointment. So many areas look fertile for an abundance of herps. I’m for the most part a snake person. I really don’t have any interest in many lizards at all. So this makes trying to find an area to strictly look for snakes a little easier. However, it can be a pain in the ass at times with unexpected fowl weather or just trying to find a productive spot on a road or on a mountain slope. Here is some great habitat.
Sierra la Giganta
Kind of feels and looks like Jurassic Park, not Baja! The rain is an important factor for here. Without it, these pics would be baron of vegetation and dry mountain sides void of snake activity.
El Peloteado
This is a local resident of the area
Central Baja California Gopher Snake, P.m. bimaris
Some areas are dryer than others and harbor a different variety of herps. The rugged slopes of this volcano are a mecca for many secretive nocturnal herps. This place can be very difficult to find a variety of herps at times. I prefer lantern walking the lava flows instead of driving to roads.
Vulcan las Tres Virgenes
Some species found on the mainland also are found on islands.
Isla San Marcos Barefoot Gecko, C (switaki) gypsicolus
Isla San Marcos Barefoot Gecko, C (switaki) gypsicolus
When you’re feeling too lazy or hung over to walk at night you can find a nice section of road to drive like this.
Near Mulege
It’s always nice to find and observe these animals
Mexican Rosy Boa, L.t.trivirgata
A big bomber that has seen better days but, still always nice to encounter. It appeared she had laid eggs earlier this year.
Santa Rosalia Rat Snake, B.rosaliae
These things remind me of a cross between a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake and a Sidewinder.
Baja California Rattlesnake, C.e.enyo
A diurnal resident throughout the peninsula
Western Patchnosed Snake, S.h.klauberi
I hope you all liked the bonsai BCS tour. I’m going to take some time away from the field for a while and work on a web page dedicated to my adventures in the field. It will be a lot like this post. Any input is greatly appreciated. Time for a beer lol!
Paul Lynum
paullynum at earthlink.net
Ed
TC
