Taipan Territory

An encounter with one of the world’s most venomous snakes in an Australian desert: what more could a reptile enthusiast want?​​​

- Ross McGibbon

IMAGINE THAT YOU’RE A passionate surfer. You talk about surfing to anyone who’ll listen; read every surfing book and magazine you can nd; spend all your spare time travelling in search of the best waves. Now, translate that enthusiasm into finding and photographing reptiles in the wild and you’ll begin to understand the passion that I have for these animals. It’s this enthusiasm that led fellow wildlife photographer Tim Squires and me on an expedition into the remote Great Victoria Desert, about 1500km inland from Perth, where we hoped to nd and photograph the western desert taipan (Oxyuranus temporalis).

Most Australians would have heard of taipans because these reptiles are among the world’s most infamous snakes and Australia is home to all three known species. These are the notorious coastal taipan, which is also found in southern New Guinea; the inland taipan, sometimes known popularly as the fierce snake and believed to have the most toxic venom of any land snake; and the recently described western desert taipan.

They are all formidable snake species, possessing large fangs, extremely potent venom and an agility that demands the utmost respect from even the most experienced of snake handlers. Returning to the surfing analogy, photographing taipans is like big-wave riding – succeed, and you won’t remember a happier moment; get it wrong and it may cost you your life.

Tim knows about this better than most. It’s almost a year since our last taipan expedition, during which he nearly died after being bitten by an inland taipan. It’s an ordeal neither of us is eager to repeat.

But where there’s risk, there’s reward, and, for me, there’s no greater reward than seeing these wild places and animals with my own eyes.