What is Herping?

Searching for snakes and other "herps"...

Hey friends,

Greetings from Ashoka University, India!

I’m back at university after a few months away. Leaving the cooler, moderate south, I’ve arrived in the dry, arid north.

It took me just a few minutes before arriving on campus to spot my first critter—a Calotes lizard. I also spotted a cool grasshopper later on.

Ashoka isn’t in a biodiverse region of the country. Yet, even this arid land has its own wildlife. It was a subtle reminder that wild rhythms throb everywhere…

Just took these on my phone before they scuttled away

Here are some links I enjoyed this week:

• Mysteries of Monsoon: At the Nature in Focus festival last week, I got to see the screening of this film. It was shot in the cardamom plantations of Munnar—the same location that I write so often about. I’ve spent years roaming these plantations in search of wildlife, and so seeing them in this film was so thrilling. Sara, the filmmaker, is such a nice chap. We had a good chat at the festival.

• How ARCANE Writes Women: Spoiler alert. Don’t watch this if you haven’t seen the show “Arcane”. But if you have, then this is a must-watch. Arcane is a show with strong, well-written, multidimensional women characters. You don’t find many characters like that in cinema (although we should!). As a person who loves critiquing films, I immensely enjoyed this breakdown of the show.

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Searching for Snakes and other “herps”…

Armed with our head torches, we plunged into the forest.

I was in the rainforests of the Western Ghats with two of my friends, and we were searching for snakes. Our eyes scoured the forest, looking at leaves and twigs for the tell-tale glisten of scales. We flipped rocks and peered into holes, trying to find these secretive reptiles.

In other words, we were herping.

Broadly speaking, herping refers to the search for any kind of reptile or amphibian. But more often than not, it refers to snakes. It is a skill that takes years to master.

Back home, I was the guy who could spot wildlife where no one could. But in the rainforest, next to my “herping friends”, I was a complete noob. I walked past so many snakes—you cannot image how embarrassed I felt.

This was a couple of years ago. I’ve been slowly improving my herping skills. Just last week, I found three snakes on my own while exploring the forests of Rishi Valley in the Eastern Ghats. You can read about that here.

It is hard to describe what herping is like in words. You need to be in the field to know what it's like. The sounds, the smells, the sights. The adrenaline pumping through you as you scan the underbrush. The rush of excitement when someone shouts, “Snake!”. It is an evocative and immersive experience that needs to be experienced.

So the next time you are in a wild area, just look around. Scan the stalks of the plants you see. You're going to want to look for some sort of patterned object—many snakes appear in patterns. You're also going to want to look for snake-like objects (duh, Ishan). That means thread or rope-like structures draped along the vegetation.

Who knows? You might just spot a serpentine friend, like this malabar pit viper below!

Book Update

My book is full of herping adventures, and I can’t wait for you guys to read it!

I am steadily working on touching up the first draft, which I hope to send to my editor soon. It is tough and gruelling work. But the more I grind here, the better the final product will be.

I am setting a hard deadline of 30th August. Come what may, I have to send the draft to my editor by then. I am openly declaring this. Please hold me to it.

Zooming out, I’ve done a lot of editing. My shitty first draft was around 70,000 words, but now, it must be closer to 58,000 words. That’s more than 10k words that I’ve just cut out. Moving forward, I suppose I’ll cut a few thousand more.

All of this is to make the reading experience the best it can be. So please buy the book when it comes out! And do share it with your friends!

Postcard

Here’s a challenge for you. Can you tell me what is technically wrong with the shot? Zoom in and pay attention to the details.

Also, if someone can name the species of monkey, I’ll be over the moon.

Favourite Quote

It is hard to motivate people to care about something they do not know about or understand - by Matt Kasson, Brian Lovett and Patricia Kaishian in “The Revelator.”

Have a creative, energetic and inspiring week!

If you’re new, welcome to The Owlet! My name is Ishan Shanavas, and I am an Artist, Photographer, Writer and Student of the Natural World.

Here I talk about my work, along with curating the most interesting ideas on the internet. I confine them to topics like Nature, Culture, Photography, and Art but often fall prey to other genres.

I would greatly appreciate it if you shared my newsletter and work with your friends. It really helps me out :)