Guizhou Herping Expedition 2026
Guizhou is the province that’s known for it’s hot food and cool climate, it is also one of the most ethnically diversed none autonomous region in China, lesser known that it is also one of the most herpetofauna diversed province in China. We will explore the Western Guizhou plateau and Eastern Guizhou montane cloudforest as well as Southern Guizhou limestone karst in this expedition. Our main targets will be the Flower Lancehead Viper (Protobothrops jerdonii), Maolan Lancehead Viper (Protobothrops maolanensis), Sichuan Pitviper (Trimeresurus sichuanensis), White-headed Viper (Azemiops feae), and a great number of rare montane colubrids and natricines.
July 17-July 24, 2026
Itinerary
July 17-18th 2026 Day 1-2 Shuicheng District, Liupanshui
July 19-20th 2026 Day 3-4 Libo County, South Qian
July 21-23th 2026 Day 5-7 Leishan County, Southeast Qian
Picking up location could be Guiyang Longdongbao Airport or Guiyang North Station.
We will meet up in a hotel in Guiyang and start the trip driving west to Liupanshui.
We can drop you off anywhere around Guiyang after the trip is over.
Day 1-2 📍Shuicheng District, Liupanshui
We will meet up in the capital city of Guizhou province — Guiyang on the first day, we will head west to Liupanshui city after all of us are picked up and introduced to each other. Shuicheng district is located at western Guizhou plateau, it is often called “the capital of chilliness”, known for the low temperature in the summer, hence a famous heat-escaping city in China. The elevation of this city is above 1600 meters ASL, and our herping spots here will be above 2000 meters.
The senic of our first herping spot here is breathetaking, with a combination of the dry limestone karst, alpine meadow and patchy pine forest, and it is home to many rare and endemic herps. We will go herping both in the moring (not mandatory if you cannot wake up early) and at night. The Flower Lancehead Viper (Protobothrops jerdonii) can be found basking during the daytime, especially after a night of heavy rains, and the red morph Big-eyed False Cobra (Pseudoxenodon macrops) are another daytime herp that is commonly found hunting near water, The Black-striped Green Ratsnake (Ptyas nigromarginata) is one of the unusual aspect that we are hoping to see here, and many more, the daytime herping has a great potential of turning up showstoppers here. After nightfall, the White-headed Viper (Azemiops feae) is relatively COMMON in here, usually recognized as the rarest viper of a region is quite common in the capital of chilliness. A species of undescribed green vipers are found in here, they are probably close relatives to Trimeresurus yunnanensis and stejnegeri but gets a much larger size, heavily keeled scales and yellow lateral stripes instead of white and red. The Taiwan Mountain Pitviper (Ovophis cf. makazayazaya) in theory can be found in here but still haven’t showed up for our team. It is possible to see many other rare natricines, the newest described species of Rhabdophis— the Shuicheng Grove-necked Keelback (Rhabdophis shuichengensis) were found here in previous expeditions, and the ultra rare Kutkai Keelback (Hebius bitaeniatus) is also a species we might see. The Guizhou Crocodile Newt (Tylototriton kweichowensis) is one of the most strikingly beautiful species of newts, and we can find them here as a bycatch for snakes.
We will stay in a franchise hotel that newly opened at 2025 in Liupanshui city, it is only 30 minutes drive to the herping spot, which is convenient as we will go back and forth between the two places at least two times a day minimum.
Day 3-4 📍Libo County, South Qian Miao and Buyei Autonomous Perfecture
On day three of the trip we will wake up early in the moring for the last round of voluntary daytime herping, we will meet up around midday, photograph & release everything we caught and head east. It is going to be a long drive across the province and will arrive Libo county around 6-7pm, check in the hotel, quick dinner and head to the herping spot— Maolan National Park, the most famous herping spot in Guizhou province. In here, the biodiversity is next level. The endemic viper species — the Maolan Lancehead Viper (Protobothtops maolanensis), the endemic gecko — Libo Cave Gecko (Goniurosaurus liboensis), and the endemic newt — the Maolan Crocodile Newt (Tylototriton maolanensis) are our main reason here. But we always have chance to enounter famous showstopper species such as Chinese King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah), Hundred Flower Ratsnake (Elaphe moellendorffi), Five Pace Viper (Deinagkistrodon acutus), Chinese Bamboo Ratsnake (Oreocryptophis p. vaillanti), Gray-bellied Green Ratsnake (Gonyosoma frenatum), Mandarin Ratsnake (Euprepiophis mandarinus), Horned Lancehead Viper (Protobothrops cornutus), Chinese Cobra (Naja atra) and a few relatively range restricted colubrids only from SW China and NE Vietnam such as the Vietnamese Wolfsnake (Lycodon meridianalis) and the Mountain Omei Keelback (Hebius optatus). The biggest snake species in China — the Burmese Python (Python bivittatus) can be found in here as well. Many more rare colubrids called this place home, and the snake density is much higher than anywhere else during this trip, kukri snakes (genus Oligodon), Sharp-scaled Lancehead Viper (Protobothrops mucrosquamatus) and Many-banded Kraits (Bungarus multicinctus) are very common in here. The herping experience in here is overall very good, and having 8-10 species per night and over 20 snakes total in here is reasonable.
We will be staying in the same brand of franchise hotel from last one, and it is only 25 minutes drive to the spot, Libo is a touristy place so it is always a convenient city to live in. If we feel lucky we can also try our luck and go for some daytime hike in the park, hoping to get some daytime snakes.
Day 5-7 📍Leishan County, Southeast Qian Miao and Dong Autonomous Perfecture
Our final destination is Leishan county, the Mt. Leigong to be exact, Mt. Leigong means the Mountain of the Thunderlord. In the misty cloudforest in this mountain, there are many endemic species and rare colubrids spcies. The Longsheng Kukrisnake (Oligodon lungshengensis), and Bella’s Ratsnake (Archelaphe bella) are two species of rare colurbids our team still yet to find and exist in here. Many rare colubrid species are relatively common in here, such as Mandarin Ratsnake (Euprepiophis mandarinus), Chinese Bamboo Ratsnake (Oreocryptophis p. vaillanti), and many species of false cobra (genus Psuedoxenodom). The majestic King Ratsnake (Elaphe carinata) are the apex predator in high elevation here, we have seen several of them around 1800 meter ASL. Besides the King Ratsnake, two species of snake eater Elapidae — the Fujian Coralsnake (Sinomicrurus kellogi) and the Annulated Coralsnake (Sinomicrurus annularis) are found in here in previous trips. There are many species of vipers can be found in this mountain, the endemic Sichuan Pitviper (Trimeresurus sichuanensis) are mysterious to many people but they are common in here. We also have a chance to see the pure white head version of White-headed Viper (Azemiops feae). The Five Pace Viper (Deinagkistrodon acutus) is reportedly found in here in lower elevation. The Sharp-scaled Lancehead Viper (Protobothrops mucrosquamatus) and Fujian Pitviper (Trimeresurus stejnegeri) are loaded in this mountain. The rarest and amazing looking Taiwan Mountain Pitviper (Ovophis cf. makazayazaya) can be found in the highest part of the mountain, and it will be our main target. This mountain is always generous but mysterious to herpers.
Our accomodation in here will be a mountain resort owned by the local Miao people, the boss is an amazing chef and we can enjoy many delicious Miao traditional food. Since we live inside the herping spot, we can spend the whole day road cruising and hiking for dinural colubrids.
Included: Not Included:
Transportation Snacks and extra drinks
Daily meals and drinks Flights on arrival
Accomodation Visa
Difficulty & Comfortableness:
Mostly we are going to hike on the road side and road cruise by vehicles, on our jerdonii hunt in the morining, we will walk in some steap mountain side meadow, but usually not too difficult for most of herpers. Hiking will be huge in this trip, be prepared to hike 15-25k steps per day, but if you are tired you can always jump in one of the car to rest and join the road cruise instead. The temperature in Guizhou is always cold at night and morning, no matter the weather, usually we will be hiking around 14-18 degrees on the first two days, 22-24 degrees on the third and fourth day, 17-20 degrees on the last three days. During the daytime in Guizhou summer, it is going to be the best summer ever, but get yourself a sun screen before entering the highland.
Food & Accomodation:
We will mostly have local Guizhou cuisine, Guizhou cuisine is one of the most underrated cuisine in the world, we will have a lot of grilled fish, rice noodles, beef hotpots and Guizhou style barbecue. It is gonna be spicy but make you stay warm hiking in at night in low temperature. We also have a choice of American fast food at some point, but be prepared, Guizhou is not like east coast of China, the choice of western food is limited, the deliciousness of local food made up for it. On first four days, we will be staying in franchise hotels that are very nice and clean with big room spaces but only 20-30 minutes away from the herping spot. On day five to seven, we will be staying in a mountain resort that is on our herping location, the boss of the resort is the best chef ever, his cooking skill is unrivalled, so get ready to have some feast.
Travel & Visa requirement:
Be sure to arrive Guiyang before 1pm on July 17th, 2026, we recommend everyone to arrive a day before the trip. Since it will take almost three hours to drive to Liupanshui from Guiyang on the first day, we HAVE to leave Guiyang before 3pm. We will return to Guiyang around 5pm on July 24th, 2026. Usually a Visa is required traveling to China, be sure to check on that for your country, it is participants’ responsibility to get the proper Visa or meet the requirement to enter the country. We can provide help on obtaining the Visa if it is needed.