Hey, treefrog! Get outta my face!

It was nigh on to one in the morning and I was meandering slowly along a rain-slicked and very muddy trail. The rest of the gang were long asleep on the tour boat.

It had sprinkled most of the day, poured for some of it, and was back to a sprinkle now. Lighting was probably slicing through the distant sky but the canopy obliterated the display. Only the rumbling and grumbling of thunder alerted me to the potential. Something was telling me I was going to get wet—probably very wet (again) very soon. And that something was right on target.

Soon the sound of the thunder was right overhead and rain could be heard in the canopy. It would still be a few minutes before it splashed its way earthward. I began an ascent up a fair incline at about the same time the rain began its descent. Within seconds the incline was slicker than the proverbial greased pig and I was concentrating on every footstep.

Upward, upward---SPLAT! Something big, slimy, and unexpected splatted onto my face. I screamed and as I slipped downward, I knocked it to the ground.

The rain now fell in torrents and I still had no idea what had hit me. But as I moved to the edge of the trail a big brown leaf leapt from the ground and stuck to an upright sapling about three feet above the ground.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I recognized this as a giant broad-headed treefrog, Osteocephalus taurinus.

Enough excitement! Time now to head back to the boat.

(More photos under the jump!)

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.