My Top 10 Wildlife Encounters

1. Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus)

While I was in Nepal, I visited Chitwan national park, which is known for their one horned rhino and sloth bear populations. I was doing day hikes into the park and next time I will absolutely do the multi day hikes they offer to get deeper in the park and have greater chances of seeing tigers, which was the main reason I was there. The first day I went out on a hike we did the normal loop and I was able to see hornbill, king cobra, gharial, and one horned rhino along with a plethora of other species I have not seen before. The second day I went out we did that loop but in reverse. Saw some of the same stuff again but we were going to head to a spot that had high traffic for the big carnivores in the area. In Chitwan you always have two guides with you. One in front and one behind you when walking. At this certain section, our goal was to perch up on a log and wait and watch for any animal to come by. We waited for 2 and half hours and were getting ready to head out when I went for a leak. As I was doing my business, I had my camera under my left arm. About halfway through stream a freaking sloth bear steps out of the tall grass no more them 30ft from me. As any good photographer would do, I cut the stream and grabbed my camera and started photographing for the fear the bear would immediately run across the road into the dense brush on the other side. What I didn’t do was pull up my pants. So, my lovely new bear friend got to see the bare necessities. Now my guides definitely saw this interaction and were laughing their asses off. The bear watched me maybe in surprise for a couple minutes before starting to head down the road, so I was able to get my pants back on and take some beautiful shots of this bear.

2. One Horned Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis)

In Chitwan national park I saw many rhinos, roughly 16 in total. That is actually not a lot for what usually can be seen during the hotter months. But I had one encounter with an individual that really stood out from all the others. What divides the city from Chitwan national park is simply a river. There are no fences so animals can come and go. There is this beautiful area to walk along the river and spot wildlife. In the afternoon rhinos like to come down and wade in the water to cool off and get rid of pesky parasites. I would head out to this awesome area around 2 in the afternoon before the afternoon walking safari people would come and this allowed me to be quiet and use my senses to find animals. Walking back and forth photographing bird species and while photographing a common king fisher, I hear a umph sound to my right and I look across and on the top of this hill is a one horned rhino who had just emerged from the forest.  I start taking photos and he starts moving down to the riverbank and I keep my distance. The rhino comes down into the river and is definitely aware of me. They do not have great sight but what they lack in that their other senses are very keen. The rhino walked along the river and into a deeper section of the water and had just his head visible while the rest of the body was submerged. The evening crowds started to show up and the rhino kept soaking for another hour and then got out and started to head to the grass on the other side and started foraging. The sunset was happening now, and it gave the rhino a stunning golden glow and that was my favorite capture of rhinos during my time.

3. Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus)

During the fall of 2016 and spring of 2017, I lived in central Thailand studying king cobra spatial ecology at the Sakaerat biosphere reserve. Not too far from the reserve was the incredible Khao Yai national park. This is one of the best places to see Asian elephants in the wild in Southeast Asia. The last week I was at the station I went with some other researchers from the station to Khao Yai national park. We would rent scooters and drive an hour into the park and camp. We went on a hike for Siamese crocodile which was on Trail 2, and then we venture to Trail 5 which had an awesome watch tower with lots of viewpoints. I was perched up in the tower watching over a lake as there is an area near there where the rangers put the dead carcasses found in the park for the scavengers. I’m not 100% sure but I reckon I saw a dhole around there, but it was very far away. I then noticed a water monitor swimming across the lake and was shooting photos of it when I heard this deep rumble behind me and I quickly moved to another viewpoint and to my surprise there was a bull elephant in the middle of this large field. He was foraging and ripping large chunks of grass to eat. I just sat there and watched that amazing animal do what it does. The bull would grab dirt and throw it over its back. There were some tourists very clearly not knowing about the danger that these animals pose. I told them to go backwards and keep their distance. The sun was setting now, and our crew and I were getting hungry, so we headed back to camp with large smiles on our faces. 

4. Emerald tree Boa (Corallus caninus)

I saw my most desired snake, the emerald tree boa while in the Guyana shield near the Surama village which is around 18 hours from the capital of Georgetown. In Guyana I was there as a lead herpetologist for Operation Wallacea. There are many extraordinary animal encounters that I had, but one in particular stood out over all the others. As a reptile lover there are 2 snakes I have always wanted to see in the wild. These snakes exhibit a process called convergent evolution. The emerald tree boa and green tree python fulfill the same ecological niches but are found on opposite sides of the world. The next six weeks I spent in Guyana we spent the time in different sections of the Iwokarma and Surama region. One spot called Rock Landing near Iwokarma stood out the most out of our site locations. It was the last place we visited in the field and there were three snakes I wanted to see, green anaconda, emerald tree boa, and bushmaster. I was starting to get anxious because we only had 5 more days at this site where these snakes have been seen in prior expeditions. Spending long days on the boat and finding many amazon tree boas, we head out one evening with the captain as our guide. We are walking our normal route and the guide is always in front and me behind him followed by my students. About 10 minutes into our hike, the captain says, “green snake”. In my mind, I’m thinking parrot snake and then I get a better look at the snake and see the yellow belly, white stripes on the back and the emerald tree color. Here, right in front of me was one of the rarest snakes for herpers to find. It is coiled right in ambush position mere inches off the ground. I quickly got the snake and expected it to be aggressive as I’ve been told they are. It struck once and got one little tooth into my finger but that was it. So here I am surrounded by students and their teachers with an absolute angel in my hand and all I could say was “oh my God” repeatedly 30 times because of the absolute joy I am feeling. We continued on our transect, identifying more species. I was so excited to head back and share this amazing discovery with everyone at base camp. I got into camp and everyone could just tell that we got something amazing by our faces and attitude. So, I revealed the most amazing find of the trip (in my eyes) to everyone. My great friend Sean McHugh also wanted to see one. He wanted to hold it. I don’t know why, but the snake immediately bit onto his hand. Now this is where things get interesting. First off, these snakes have no venom, but what they do have is an anticoagulant in their saliva that helps keep their prey bleeding. After Sean got bit it bled for a good while. The next morning his hand was slightly swelled up and bruised. This snake was absolutely incredible to see in the wild and I can’t wait to see a huge female and little orange juvenile in the wild next time.

5. Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja)

Another story from Guyana. One of the most epic predators in the world is the harpy eagle. These massive birds have a wingspan of 7ft and eat sloths and monkeys. They have the largest talons of any raptor and their talons are as large as a grizzly bear’s. This was the last group we had with us and we were heading to Sandstone as the second group hadn’t been there yet. On the way to that site there is a tree that a pair of harpy eagles have nested in. The last chick was hatched in 2018 so it was a yearling at this point, and I would love to be able to get a photo of this majestic bird. On our way to the Sandstone site, we went past the tree and my guide Dexter looked for the bird. We didn’t see it and it started to rain so we headed back to camp as I would have a chance the next day to potentially see it. I got to camp to set up stuff and the other boats came and all of them looked happy. Right after we left, the yearling harpy flew into its nest for cover. At this age they are able to fly, but hang around the nest for mom and dad to bring food. That night we went on a night hike and then the next day I was on the first boat out again to try to see this bird. We got to the tree where the nest was and waited. Sean knows how to make the whistle call the birds use to communicate with each other.  No sighting at all for 15 minutes. A couple of boats went by and I was devastated so we got into our boat and headed off. A couple other boats were approaching and one of the guides yelled out “harpy”. We swung the boat around and got in view and suddenly that huge majestic harpy flew onto a tree near the boats from its nest replying with the same call Sean has been making. I had one bar left on my battery in my camera and shot till the battery died. What an absolute amazing experience it was to see that epic animal.

6. King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah)

I have had many amazing king cobra encounters throughout the years. But one stands out over the others. That is the legend of OPHA 26, the snake everyone thought would be easy. We caught 26 in November on a rescue call. Fit him with a radio transmitter to radio track his movements and released him near the capture site. Marissa and I were on him that evening and followed him off to a rocky outcropping where he stayed out for three weeks. Ned and I were on him the day he took off. They may not have legs, but a big king cobra can move 1km in 10 minutes through the most inhospitable terrain. He went up a mountain and down a mountain then into this large valley. We were constantly losing signal and trying to find new roads to head to where we think he has gone. We finally finished our day at around 8. We had GPS so we walked the hour and half back to our motorcycle. The team kept tracking the snake in this valley and we found these huge game trails carved through the high grass. The grass was 7ft y’all and there was large poop everywhere. This snake moves all the time and was a pain in the ass. Tyler and George set out a camera trap up and to our surprise there were elephants in the area. We found out that this area was the edge of Tab Lon national park. This park has the highest density of tiger in Thailand. So, no more trackers are allowed during the dusk and dawn times as that’s when megafauna are most active. 

7. Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)

When I went to Borneo in 2017, the orangutans were the biggest thing on my list to see. This would be my first great ape species seen in the wild. There are habituated orangutans that are more tolerant to the presence of humans. My family and I were fortunate enough to see a fully wild mother and baby who were drinking. It was only for seconds before she swung out of sight into the dense jungle. We spotted saltwater crocodiles (unfortunately no tomistoma croc), gibbons and proboscis monkeys. You would spend the days moving from location to location to see the orangutans and catch glimpses of the other wildlife. We were in the boat and saw that flash of ginger hair color (in Australia red heads are called orangas) and there was this stunning younger male feeding and drinking from the edge.  We are only 10 meters away. It was amazing watching him move around while watching us. I have no idea how some people on our planet say we are not related to these amazing animals. The similarities between us and them are uncanny like the way the young interact with each other and their mothers. Orangutans are our most distance cousins when it comes to the great apes, while chimpanzees are the closest related to us. Bonobo are next and gorilla are third. I encourage everyone to put it on your bucket list to see these amazing animals. 

8. Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis)

There was one animal that I said I was going to go see in the wild when I visited Asia and that is the Komodo dragon. After my king cobra internship in Thailand, I backpacked Southeast Asia. My travels took me to Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, and Indonesia. My brother joined me before we set off for Cambodia and then after we headed to Bali for his birthday. We are both divers, so we set off for one of the most incredible spots on Earth and my absolute most favorite place I have ever been on the planet, Komodo National Park. My brother and I did 5 days of scuba diving with Scuba Junkies and after that we headed to the island of Komodo. We immediately saw massive 10ft dragons right next to the guide’s kitchen area. We headed into the park where we saw some large dragons as well including the smaller flying deacon lizards. But when we got back to the beach, I heard some movement to my right and out of the brush came this massive male dragon. My goal was to get a photo of one walking on the beach and it looked like he was heading that way. He headed under this bridge and I got on the bridge and took photos of him walking under me. He then headed onto the beach and of course it started to rain, but I had a weather-proof camera so kept on taking photos of this truly awesome animal, the largest lizard on the planet. I really want to visit the island again and stay on the island for the night and see the endemic viper as well as try and catch a glimpse of a Komodo kill.

9. Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus)

The largest animal I have ever been in the presence of was the whale shark, which happens to be the largest fish species on the planet. A lot of people visit the Philippines to have an encounter with these leviathans but recently there have been a lot issues with the tour operators feeding the fish only one source of food and this is upsetting the shark’s diets. On the other side of the planet, I was living in Cozumel at the time and went to Isla Mujeres, where I went out in a friend’s boat and we headed two hours into the ocean. Every summer from June to August a congregation of whale sharks comes to this stretch of ocean as the warm water creates lots of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Here was a natural way to see these sharks. You would be dropped off where a shark was filter feeding because there is absolutely no way you swim out to one of them. Then you swim alongside the animal and get to really see how large they are and small we are. That day I was able to see roughly 50 whale sharks in total. There have been a lot of issues here as well because of the crazy number of boats that have gone out and the sharks have the scars to show from that. More regulations have been put in to limit the number of boats out there. It is always important to research the company you go out with and make sure they are practicing ethical treatment towards the animals. 

10.  Dwarf Caiman (Paleosuchus trigonatus)

Another story from Guyana. Our first site was Cabacali, which is near the Iwokarma station and lodge, about a 3-hour boat ride away. This was our first night in the jungle and after setting up my hammock and getting some bush cooking food down, everyone was eager to get into the jungle and search for animals. After finding some cool snakes and frogs, we kept walking down this stream bed that had about shin deep water. A couple of the research assistants were far ahead with Cory our guide, who was helping us look for stuff. I was with the other research assistants collecting data on the animals we saw. I hear excitement up ahead and people are saying “caiman”. In my headlight I see the bright two red eyes that signify a type of crocodile, one of my absolute favorite groups of animals. My goal was to catch the dwarf caiman to process it and mark it for further study. I used my snake hook to sneak a noose around the caiman’s neck so I can secure it. The first round, it slipped off, so I found where the caiman had splashed off to and did it again and it held. I guided the caiman onto the shore where I jumped on its back to secure it, pinning the neck down with my hands while I hold its body with my legs. The caiman was just short of 5ft. Then I secured its jaws with electrical tape and carried the 40–50-pound caiman the 1k back to base camp. That night was insane. I hog tied the caiman to secure it, but it was not happy and repeatedly moved all night, keeping me up because I kept getting out of my hammock to check on it and keep it calm. The next morning, we processed the caiman at base camp, cut a scale on the tail for ID and took measurements. Then I had the research assistants carry the caiman to the release site where we took photos of it and released the caiman back to its stream.