We will have one official conference trip: an afternoon and evening tour of the Southern Arava valley and Eilat, where we will have a chance to see up to eight different species of geckos (under current taxonomic designations), in addition to numerous other colourful and fascinating desert reptiles!
We will set out in the afternoon of May 27th and get back to Tel Aviv on the morning of the 28th.
Those arriving early or leaving late can contact us about two potential unofficial pre- and post-conference tours:
The pre-conference tour, on Saturday, May 25th, will be to Mt. Hermon, Israel's tallest mountain, where we hope to see several endemic and near-endemic species, including the endemic and gorgeous gecko Mediodactylus amictopholis.
The post-conference tour, from the afternoon of Thursday, May 30th, to Friday the 31st in the morning, will accompany Shai's Biogeography course to the sand dunes of the Western Negev desert, in search of nocturnal reptiles, including sand vipers and two species of Stenodactylus geckos.
These will be self driven tours: some of us will bring our cars, but if room does not suffice people will need to use the services of some car rental agency.
Please if you intend to go on the tours (we think you will enjoy them very much!), bring good walking boots (more to protect yourselves from Cerastes and Montivipera than for arduous walking), sun-cream and hats.
We will set out in the afternoon of May 27th and get back to Tel Aviv on the morning of the 28th.
Those arriving early or leaving late can contact us about two potential unofficial pre- and post-conference tours:
The pre-conference tour, on Saturday, May 25th, will be to Mt. Hermon, Israel's tallest mountain, where we hope to see several endemic and near-endemic species, including the endemic and gorgeous gecko Mediodactylus amictopholis.
The post-conference tour, from the afternoon of Thursday, May 30th, to Friday the 31st in the morning, will accompany Shai's Biogeography course to the sand dunes of the Western Negev desert, in search of nocturnal reptiles, including sand vipers and two species of Stenodactylus geckos.
These will be self driven tours: some of us will bring our cars, but if room does not suffice people will need to use the services of some car rental agency.
Please if you intend to go on the tours (we think you will enjoy them very much!), bring good walking boots (more to protect yourselves from Cerastes and Montivipera than for arduous walking), sun-cream and hats.