Deadly Creatures of the Desert
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A short overview on the Explorer School's blog of some of the deadlier occupants of the Egyptian deserts.
In the last five years of desert exploration and travel I have seen one scorpion and one horned viper. I have seen sand viper tracks but no sand vipers. Despite our massive aversion and fear of snakes and scorpions one is forced to conclude they are simply not that common.
And both the scorpion, the viper and the viper tracks were all near places with vegetation or visited often by people. In remote, arid conditions you are unlikely to meet these creatures.
Cerastes cerastes- the horned viper is the most widespread deadly snake in Egypt. It prefers rocky areas such as those of the Eastern Desert- East of the Nile- to the more sandy places West of the Nile- if it exists in a sandy area it will be near some kind of vegetation such as a lone acacia or tamarisk bush. They like to lurk near lone trees to catch migrating birds. In very arid places it prefers loose soil to sand.
See the above page for more.
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