As I scanned the trailside scenery for anything that looked alive but not vegetable, I spotted a pair of odd flat shapes under an overhanging rock. They looked familiar, and I soon realized that they were Violin Beetles, an extremely weird group of Southeast Asian beetles. As I was admiring the weird insects, something caught my eye a couple of feet away, and I realized that I was looking at a viper posed motionless in ambush position.

I visited the viper again during the daytime. It was in the same spot, but was now resting on top of the liana that it had been hanging from at night.