“This book covers a couple of species that have never been described in any other field guide. We are so excited to have a beautiful field guide specifically for Limpopo and KNP regions,” said Ronel Breytenbach of HRC. “It has almost 500 entries and includes field notes, photos, and a detailed overview of each species’ habitat. Each animal also has the indigenous language common names in Afrikaans, Sepedi, Xitsonga and Tshivenda,” she said.

“We are very happy to have Ruan visit us at the park over the festive season. He will be at HRC on Sunday, December 17 and Saturday, December 30. “We’ll have half-price entry to the park from 09:00 to 11:00 so that people can come and meet the author. Ruan will host a short presentation and a Q&A session on his book in our auditorium at 10:00,” she said. She said guests will have an opportunity to have their book signed and meet Ruan in person at 10:30.

“To top it all off we’ll have a free live venomous snake educational demonstration by our curators at 11:00.” She said the book will be available at a 25% discount on the days that Stander is at the park. “We hope to see many reptile enthusiasts at the park for this event,” said Breytenbach.

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Synopsis of The Reptiles of the Limpopo province and the Kruger National Park Worm or lizard? Legless skink or snake – actwually, what’s a skink? Reptiles come in a dazzling array of shapes, sizes and colours. The Kruger National Park is home to 125 of South Africa’s 434 species. All except six of these living gems also occur in the Limpopo Province, from which a staggering total of 204 species are known. The region boasts the highest reptile diversity in South Africa – half of the country’s herpetofauna occurs here and more than 40 species are endemic.

Several are newly described and have never been pictured in a popular field guide, while many have undergone significant taxonomic revision. This volume is packed with first-hand information and brings the region’s 210 species and their habitats to life with more than 600 photographs. This book is an indispensable resource for any serious African herpetologist, ecologist, nature guide, game ranger and hunter.

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Nevertheless, it is purposefully crafted to offer a gateway into the fascinating world of reptiles for enthusiasts, budding naturalists and the youth. Ruan Stander has been deeply fascinated by all aspects of the natural world since his childhood. He has 15 years’ experience working with wild reptiles and has conducted herpetological surveys in Ethiopia, South Africa and Tanzania. Heserves on the expert identification panel of the Biodiversity and Development Institute (BDI) and the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology ReptileMAP project. Since 2015, he has diligently studied the reptiles of the Limpopo Province and Kruger National Park – the results fill these pages.