Jodi's pipe snake.
It looked like a string bean at first. Wrapped around a branch behind a clutch of parked motorcycles, the snake’s chartreuse skin was just a few swatches brighter than the tall foliage it was trying to blend into. Thai-American snake expert Christopher Shannon caught it in the beam of his flashlight, quickly identifying it as an Asian long-nosed vine snake. Its pointy snout and slit-like pupils gave it, in his words, “binocular vision.”
Within minutes, our small group spotted several more critters. A flying fox, the world’s largest bat species, crashed through the trees overhead. Just below, a puff-faced water snake writhed through a concrete ditch, while a large-eyed pit viper rested nearby. Their home: a roadside plot of shrubs and palm trees, just 15 minutes from the gleaming skyscraper jumble of downtown Bangkok.
I had come here on an excursion with Bangkok Herping, a walking-tour outfit that swaps the Thai capital’s predictable after-dark activities—like neon-lit night markets and chic rooftop bars—for an expert-guided deep dive into urban wildlife.
Shannon runs the operation with Tanguy de Saint Sauveur, a fellow reptile enthusiast who relocated to Thailand from southern France. The tours, bookable via their website, cost around $75 per person and run for about four hours.
