# Guilin Yaoshan excursion...



## MaartenSFS (May 4, 2008)

Well, here are the photos of our last field expedition. They were all taken by my wife and friend John. Our targets were Scolopendramorphs and Trap-Doors, but anything else of interest was appreciated. It seems like there were no good photos of me because I was too busy flipping rocks/logs. Nouja..







My dog protests against our trip as we depart.







The way and vehicle we came in on.













There is a tomb of some local kings at the foot of Yaoshan.







My wife (Left) and her schoolmate, Haisi. We found two large millipedes on the tree behind them and another was stepped on by an uneducated local.







Termite colony under a stone.













Cool little ground-dwelling flightless mantid.







We disregarded this cryptic sign as we made our way past the park, past the Eucalyptus plantations, into a mixed pine/deciduous forest.



















Me checking under rubbish, where we found many millipedes. They seem to prefer rubbish over natural shelter..  







Wangge, my wife's schoolmate's boyfriend. It started raining again soon after this.







It was becoming more and more evident that my wife had a mushroom obsession..













Chinese people seem to choose gravesites at random, although they tell me that it's Fengshui.







John and I  lead the way..







The biggest weevil I've ever seen.



















An opening in the dense foliage.







Me collecting substrate.



















I didn't notice any of these - All I saw was the path and rocks.







Next we arrived at a (according to John) Macedonia nut plantation, which proved to be the most fruitful area during our quest. The light shower of rain has stopped by then and this hilly outcrop was semi-arid compared the the wet forest (Which was infested with mosquitoes, by the way).













This small skink was as quick as it was beautiful.



















There were A LOT of stones in said plantation. And I lifted most in quick succession.













John and Wangge hold up the prize of this trip; a 13.5cm (From base of antennae to base of terminal legs) Scolopendra multidens, which was as angry as a cut snake when I disturbed it and almost tagged me as I tried to catch it and move it into a bigger container. Always bring extra containers! By this time I was already off flipping more rocks.













We saw many more things on that trip that we were unable to photograph, but I hope this at least gives everyone some impression of what we are up to over here. I hope return there next week, as we didn't go all that deep and there is still huge potential.

On the way back we saw a restaurant that was offering wild-caught cobra/python soup for only (10元 1.4$/.93€) a bowl. The value of life here is so low.. In the shoppe there were many photos of military men indulging on exotic wildlife. I wanted to kill them, but held myself in check. We gave everyone a distasteful look and did not help the local economy one bit as we left.


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## arrowhd (May 4, 2008)

Great habitat photos.  Looks like a good time.


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## MaartenSFS (May 5, 2008)

Thank you, we surprisingly found a lot more in the Macedonia plantation than in the forest..


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## Steven (May 5, 2008)

_interessante plek,
sorry had deze topic niet gezien voordat ik je terug PMde  _


Nice fieldtrip, interesting place


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## MaartenSFS (May 5, 2008)

Ja, daar heb je ze. De duizendpoten waren in het dennebos, onder afval.


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## jen650s (May 5, 2008)

Thank you for sharing.


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## MaartenSFS (May 5, 2008)

It's my pleasure.


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## 357wheelgunner (May 9, 2008)

That centipede is BEAUTIFUL!


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## MaartenSFS (May 9, 2008)

357wheelgunner said:


> That centipede is BEAUTIFUL!


It's even nicer in person. It fed last night, on a large predatory beetle.


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