JPG Magazine: Stories: Photo Essay: Trip to Hagieni, Constanta, Romania

Trip to Hagieni, Constanta, Romania - Herpetologists style!!!

By Tiberiu Sahlean

11 April 2008

Herpetology... some people might have heard about it, some may not... Basically, it's defined as the study of amphibians and reptiles. But you can't really look at it as just a job. It's more of a hobby, a passion, it's about an insight into a world of creatures that others consider fearsome, deadly or simply repelling and usually don't want to hear about.

OK. So this is it! The big day! We're leaving for Hagieni! I'm so happy and we've all been waiting for this for so long I can't even sleep the night before! My train is leaving at about 8:30... Oh my God, it's 5:30 AM and I'm already awake! If I could just teleport directly to the site it would be awsome! 7 hours worth of traveling by train and 2 more hours hiking and we're there! Some of us are already there and have found 2 snakes plus turtles and lizards... Lucky bastards! I'm desperate to find something, to catch a lizard, anything!

We reach the site (aka promised land), we set up our tents, but it's already late and the day is lost! Damn!

Day 2. Morning, coffee and then off to the field. It's cloudy and pretty cold... Not a very good day for reptiles, especially not for vipers, which we are mostly hoping to find... So we start searching, and keep searching and hoping the sun will come out... Mihai places himself on a rock... wants to sleep until the sun comes out... Then he goes for the grass cause it's softer... Here comes the sun... only 2 or 3 minutes... and cloudy again... and it keeps playing with us this way. We were like: "Can someone please tell God to stop playing with the sun and clouds? Can't a man do some honest herpetology?!".

Then, while searching a souther slope for vipers, normally, I stumble upon a dice snake. It's only a dice snake but I'm overjoyed for it's the first of the expedition and I start screaming (as I always do): "Snake! Snake! Guys I found a snake!". Everyone comes in great hurry... 3 minutes later everyone leaves... "Ah it was just a water snake"... 5 minutes more... Aesculapian rat snake! And again: "Snake! Snake!". Everyone is happy!

Alex: "Tibi (that's me), turn that rock over, maybe there's something under...

Result: "Snake! Snake!". A caspian whip snake. Everyone is happy again!

Mihai appears out of nowhere! He has slept threw the whole day...

Basically we didn't even have time to eat... As one of our collegues herpetologist said: "As a herpetologist you're up to your knees in water, with a piece of food in one of your hands and a frog in the other, you bite the frog and let the food go in the water... (Istvan Sas, 2008)..." That's kinda what herpetology is about!

Another day passes... Evening time is beer time for herpetologists! We must celebrate our capture (No one gets drunk, no time for that!)!

Day 3. The sky is clear and the set is prepared for finding animals! We have liftoff! We don't even have time to eat and drink coffee that's how anxious we are! We are moving to the spot... We start searching... 10 minutes... BINGO! First capture of the day! 10:40 AM! An Aesculapian rat snake!

"Snake! Snake!". Everyone is happy (except our frog guys who are near the lake searching for newts and frogs and don't even know we have caught someting)... Off to searching for vipers we go...

10 minutes... 20 minutes... 30 minutes... "Viper! Viper! Guys come here I have found a viper!" (IT WAS ME!!!).

Alex: "As usual, you had to find the first viper..."

One more hour... "Viper! Viper!" (ME AGAIN!!!).

Alex: "If you find one more I'll beat the life out of you... Sit down and stop catching snakes! You're making me look bad!"

Rest... Back to searching... "Viper! Viper!". Alex has found his first viper! Finally everyone is happy!

"Snake! Snake!" (I found a whip snake... Nobody cares... Everyone is already happy...).

"Viper! Viper!" (I found another viper... Alex threatens me again... Everyone is happy!).

End of searching day. Photo session for the animals... Everyone is mad at every animal, everyone curses because the animals won't stay to be photographed, everyone is very mad, everyone is screaming at everyone... we all leave happy for the village... Beer time... Talking time... And when herpetologists get to talking you would think you're in a Sci-Fi movie... all you hear are scientific names... talking about what scientific papers should be written... scientific jokes... jokes on each other... jokes on other people... jokes on animals... jokes on what we do.... Nah! We're just joking!

Last day... we leave and no time for searching... We can't wait for another expedition!

Conclusions: "Field trips to Hagieni can be addictive (Strugariu, 2008)!!!" and basically herpetology is about getting all dirty and messed up, looking bad, getting hurt as much as possible in all sorts of thorny bushes and almost getting yourself killed for several reasons (falling off a cliff, jumping into an abyss while trying to catch an animal or getting bitten by a venomous snake... and we've all had that last one!). What can be more fun and joyful then this?!

The stars of our field trip and my story:

1. Main picture from left to right: Tibi Sos, Valentina, Alex, Iulian, Anca and Mihai

And the whole expedition would mean nothing without our animal stars:

Picture 1. Zamenis longissimus - Aesculapian rat snake

Picture 2. Natrix natrix - European grass snake

Picture 3. Dolichophis caspius - caspian whip snake

Picture 4. Vipera ammodytes montandoni - nose-horned viper